A New Quest
by quicksear
Summary: Discord has been meddling in other dimensions and to the horror of the Princess has brought a creature back from one of them to prove it. The main six must now help to return this tragic wayfarer to his home, but not before he leaves an impression that will be hard to forget. First Fanfic. Be patient, it's coming
1. Chapter 1: Defining Madness

**Lets try this fanfic thing...**

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Rays of multicolored light spread across the floor of the great throne room, shining through the bright stained glass windows. The hues crept up the legs the regal elder princess of Equestria: Celestia. She admired her bright sun as it spread warmth and energy throughout her land. She enjoyed these moments of the early dawn, finding relaxation in her duties to her people. And yet, it could not last.

"Ahem."

The princess sighed. "What is it...Discord?"

"Well, you said you would like to speak with me this morning, and as you can see, morning is here!" Discord said cheerily, his long serpentine body stretched across a sofa that he insisted on making appear at every convenient time. The Princess hid her annoyance. Since his reforming, Discord had proved useful on many occasions, but he he was still Discord. She had to allow him these moments of harmless, if random, freedom, to stop him from relapsing into his chaotic self.

"You know full well that I meant after the raising ritual." She said calmly. He just shrugged.

"Very well, Discord. I mean to speak to you of your last journey to Las Pegasus. Was turning that park into a marshmallow really necessary?"

"But Princess, did it not stop that Ursor Minor from ravaging the city and spreading..." he licked lips and smiled,"...a little Fun?"

The Princess looked sternly down at the cobbled-together creature before her. "It also destroyed one of the most beautiful parks in the city. You cannot overstep your boundaries. This chaos is-"

"Oh, Princess, THAT was not chaos." said Discord. He jumped up off of his couch, which promptly disintegrated into hundreds of butterflies that attacked and ate each other into non-existence. "Chaos is so much more fun than just feeding an Ursor a giant marshmallow! You know, some worlds are far more accepting of a little bit of fun now and then..."

"Discord, we've had this discussion before; I care not for the dimensions outside of my realm. I know not what creatures have made those planes their home, and would prefer if you would keep to yourself from spying into their affairs." the Princess said, disturbed.

"Oh, but Princess! how many creatures are alive that are gifted with the ability to see across all life? Why I believe its only elementals such as myself that have the ability. Yourself and your sister of course being special cases..." Discord grumbled, stretching to his full height. That was a bit difficult to judge, of course, given his shape shifting nature.

Celestia looked at him sharply at his referral to her and Luna. "We will not misuse the powers that we have gained, Discord! We have dedicated ourselves to protecting Equstria, that is enough."

"What a waste, Princess, really, you should try it! You're even powerful enough to, hm, have a little fun with the...others." Discord bared his snaggletooth in a grin.

"No, Discord! You are forbidden from altering the other planes of life! I may understand and allow you to look into them, but you may not expose us to those unstable lands!" Celestia barked at the devious Draconequus. His grin merely widened.

"Too late..."

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**Hello and thanks for reading this far at all. I'm looking for reviews of style and character development to better my writing in general, so if my content a little dicey, please forgive me and leave a review anyway. Thanks a ton**


	2. Chapter 2 The Challenged

**Following chapters are about the protagonist, just saying.**

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Marc was not what anyone would call normal. He was also nothing unusual. As a young child he had been through a lot, but even his therapist said that he had adapted well to normal life.

He still had the odd trouble relating to other people, but that was to be expected. He had however managed to gather about him a few close friends during his time in this city. But that didn't mean he was never lonely. In fact, he was lonely a lot. Which was why he was so excited that Gale had invited him out tonight.

He looked at himself in the mirror for a minute. He was certainly not vain (He never had the opportunity or self esteem for that) but this was Gale, the only friend that he had ever made by himself, without someone pushing them together for his benefit. He couldn't say he impressed with what he saw there: a medium build young man with a reasonable overall figure, but little else. Shaggy brown hair and hazel eyes were not exactly uncommon, and though he was quite tall he was certainly not imposing or charismatic in appearance. He sighed, but tried a smile. There, better.

Just then, he heard a call over the intercom: "Marc, you have a visitor."

The smile stayed put. He wandered out of his room through the high hall and passed the many baroque doorways towards the large double doors of the entrance. The doorman opened up for Marc, who found himself looking across the large courtyard to Gale at the gate, talking to one of the guards. He waved to her as he began to cross the impressive lawn.

Gale looked as radiant as ever, laughing at some small quip that the guard had made, setting her dark hair waving about her. Marc never failed notice how her hair framed her face perfectly when she laughed. Gale noticed Marc at that moment, and broke off her conversation with the guard to climb back into her car. Marc greeted the guard with a nod as he passed, earning a "Have a good one" from the man, who returned to the gatehouse.

Marc slid over the hood of the car and jumped into the passenger seat next to Gale, who immediately hugged him and exclaimed, "My god Marc, its been a while! I haven't heard a peep in weeks! How have you been? You missed such a party last Friday! I tried to phone, but I was told you were with one of the tutors. Anyway, John was there, trying to find a girl, it was so funny...!".

Marc laughed to himself as she continued the one sided conversation all the way down the drive to the main road. Finally, she paused and, looking over at Marc, she asked, " Are you gonna be quiet all night again? Am I gonna have to get you high?".

Not wanting repeat that experience, Marc said, "Hi...um...Where are we going?"

His soft voice was not helped by the music rocking car at this point. Marc had organized that amp himself for Gale last year. Gale smiled, "Well, at least you can talk, that's all you need for tonight. Okay, now I know you don,t like being set up with people, but its about time you met a friend of mine who isn't utterly insane, so we're going to Signa Square to meet my best girl-friend, San-Marie."

Marc gave her a questioning look.

Gale blushed and blurted, "Not like that! That was like, one time at college...and then that time in Germany, but that was totally different. San-Marie is just a good friend, like you."

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**Notice a lack of cliffhangers. Can't decide whether or not to use them, since I hate the things when I'm reading. Anyway, thanks for making it this far! hope you continue. Review if you have anything to say, it can only help.**


	3. Chapter 3 Three's a Crowd

Marc smiled again, then cleared his throat and said a bit louder than before, "So that's why it was so important that I come out tonight? To meet a friend of yours? I hope that's all you're planning." Then he thought of all the times that Gale had planned and evening for him.

"You know what, scratch that, it never is...".

He looked out of the window at the lights of the city. Bright. Glaring actually. He looked back at Gale. she was looking at him intently. "Marc, it's time to get out that old place, you know, every time I walk to that gate, I get chills. Its so...Dead."

Marc thought about that for a minute. She was right, it was quite an imposing building, "Well, I'm stuck there for now, the paperwork still needs to go through."

Gale knew what he meant. after a minute or two of driving, Marc eased into the conversation and bantered with Gale about old times. the pair had known each other a long time. Who would've thought that such a close friendship could grown from a hospital bed?

Eventually Gale said, "Here we are! La Petit!"

Marc looked at the fancy restaurant and wondered why Gale had chosen a place where they were both a bit out of place. Time to find out. Gale pulled over and turned off the music before anyone high class heard her mixes. Shortly, they were both staring up at the doorway. Then Gale said in a snooty accent, "Shall we, dear friend of mine?".

That kind of language came easier to Marc, and he used to good effect: "Of course my lovely companion, why ever would we not?".

Gale laughed and led him inside towards some or other person: San-Marie.

Marc found little to be excited about in meeting this new person. He surveyed the entire crowd as he was led around tables and groups. Nothing much to look at, just another crowd. When he looked straight he found the blue eyes of San-Marie as she made a cautious introduction. He smiled warmly and greeted what he could only describe as a blonde bombshell.

San-Marie certainly looked as if she belonged in high society. Maybe she had chosen the venue, he thought as he weaved his way through the polite nothings of conversation that followed meeting a person for the first time. It was all so complicatedly needless to him. By San-Marie's third sentence he had already decided that she was a nice person and considered her worth talking to. But she kept on trying to make a good impression - talking about this and that and being overly nice. She was obviously a people pleaser. Eventually Gale caught on as she noticed Marc slowly receding from the conversation. She reached over and touched San-Marie's arm. "Hun, he already considers you a friend, no need to try and win him over."

Marc smiled and nodded. Good old Gale. San-Marie was a little taken aback by this, and stopped talking altogether. Gale sighed, " Well, I'm gonna go to the ladies' for a bit."

She looked at Marc and said, " I'm counting on you to make it fun."

Marc nodded again and leaned over his pathetically small meal and said, "So, San, if that's okay? Cool. You said you've been to Paris?",

Gale smiled and walked away. Marc leaned back and waited for San-Marie to latch onto the story. She didn't, thank god. Instead she said, quite abruptly, "Where'd you meet Gale, anyway?"

She saw the instant change in Marc. The good natured smile simply vanished and she was staring at a completely different person. His face lost all traces of emotion, becoming vacant in a matter of milliseconds. It was decidedly disconcerting. Then he spoke. "Its nice story I suppose."

The sadness was tangible, but he continued, "Five years ago Gale had her tonsils out. There was a complication, and for two months, she couldn't talk. For Gale, that's torture, you know her. I was there at the time with a...battle wound..." he held up his hand, showing a faded yet clear scar running around his left index finger. "Nearly lost the hand after an infection set in." He expanded "Gale had to go through serious vocal therapy and I was, I guess, a friend in difficult times. Afterwards, when she left, I made a point of staying in contact, and here we are today."

Marc's composure returned towards the end, and by now was back to normal, but it was clear he had left a lot out. _Who stays in hospital for two months for a finger?_ San-Marie said instead, "Yeah, Gale told me once about how she used to be a good singer and all. Its sad that she can't anymore."

Gale arrived before the conversation could continue, and the rest of the evening was spent in relative ease.

By about ten, Gale was restless, Marc could tell. eventually she stood up and proclaimed to all in earshot, " I'm bored! I need to feel some excitement! Come on, guys, there's a club just around the corner!".

Gale practically ran out the door. Marc smiled as he trailed after her, with a decidedly embarrassed-looking San-Marie in their wake.

The club was indeed a rocking joint. Marc immediately bought a round of drinks for the ladies. While he was gone, San-Marie couldn't help but ask Gale about the story Marc had told her. but Gale too, was instantly shadowed. "Did he tell you what he was doing there?".

"He said it was an infection in his hand, but that's not all it was, is it?". Gale shook her head slowly.

"San...Marc was nearly beaten to death."


	4. Chapter 4 The Last Straw

Discord was taken aback by just how angry the princess was with him over this little joke his. " Oh come now, Celestia, they don't think we're real or anything, I just-".

"YOU SHOWED THEM OUR WORLD DISCORD!" The Princess shouted. Guards appeared, looking distrustfully at Discord. Celestia calmed herself and dismissed them; They couldn't hear this, this was too big for regular ponies to know.

Discord smiled and tried to defuse the smoking-mad Princess. "Celestia, they think we're myths, stories for children. In fact they think you to be quite entertaining. I thought that it would be amusing to show them how things work in our world-"

"So you meddled with their heads, making them believe that we are the invention of their own imagination?!" Celestia cut him off again.

Discord sighed patiently before continuing, "It was actually quite impressive, if a do say so myself. The first time I tried, before you and your sister were even born, I overdid it a bit, so I had to quit for a while. Then you and your sister found those Elements of Harmony and..." he grimaced, "put me in stone. anyway, by now they've nearly completely forgotten about us, so I tried again. Now you're a novelty in their world, nothing they think of as real.".

Celestia turned away in disgust."You will cease these meddlings at once, Discord"

"Oh, but of course, on one condition..." Celestia, had a feeling this could not end well. "Let me show you some of their world first."

San-Marie had decided that Marc was too weird. she spent the rest of the night chatting to other guys...but her drinks still went to Marc's tab of course. Now she was flirting with one of the men in the corner room; Johansen Smith. Odd name, but he was hot. After a while, a fizz got in the way of her thinking, but she didn't mind.

Neither did Smith.

Soon they were making out on the far side of the room. Not at all private, but she didn't seem to care anymore. This was just fun.

And then he was there.  
Marc tapped San-Marie on the shoulder and said in a quiet tone, "San? c'mon, we're taking you home."

She looked at him in disgust. "What, you see me with a real man and get jealous 'cause you cant have this?"  
she spat, slurring out of her high class accent. Marc looked Smith Straight in the eye.

"You drugged her."

Johansen laughed as he walked away. Everyone who frequented any club in the city knew that man as Mr EyeDrops. But San-Marie didn't go to clubs. Now she near passed out while trying to hit Marc. "Why'd you chase him away! Freak!"  
He merely caught her as she fell.

Marc drove them across the city; Gale had had one to many herself. Luckily they all stayed in the same suburb. All was quiet for the first ten minutes. Then San-Marie remembered something. "So, Marc, who nearly beat you to death, huh? angry papa-"

The car jerked to a halt. Marc looked straight at Gale. He was angry. Very, Gale turned and slapped San-Marie into silence, a silence that became eerie as Marc turned the car around and headed straight to where Gale had picked him up.

Without a word he got out of the car. Gale did the same, intending to talk to him, something! But he stopped her. He leant down and kissed her on the cheek. She sighed in relief; It was okay between them.

But then San-Marie called out again, "Wow, Marc, that's a huge house! you're so lucky!"  
Marc turned and left, walking back to the building. Gale turned, opened the door, pulled San-Maria roughly out of the car and shoved her against the brass plaque on the gatehouse wall, shouting as she did, "READ THE DAMN SIGN, YOU HEARTLESS IDIOT!"

San-Marie, frightened, leant away and read, mortified into realization:

"S-State Psychiatric Orphanage"

Marc didn't know what happened. San-Marie had seemed so nice, and then she tore him up. He sighed. it wasn't her fault, after all. But he just wished he were away from here, this world, with its indifferent and complicated society.

And with a flash, it happened.

Discord moved himself into the new dimension when the Princess paused after his ultimatum; That was close to a yes, right? Anyway...He was not sure how best to turn this situation to his amusement, but he decided to take a miserable human. Yes, that would work well; imagine it's face when it saw Celestia! that's when he felt it: a wish to leave the world...not really a sincere one...all the better. In fact, this was perfect.

Marc stared at the creature in front of him, the most hideous mismatch of creatures he could have ever imagined. and it just laughed at him. "Hahahaha! Oh your face! I wish you could see it! Now, you just wished to leave this world, correct? Your wish just came true! you're leaving! Forever, I might add!"

_What?_ Marc stared. No. "No! NO!"

But was too late. the creature snapped its...tail? and with that, Marc was gone. Discord grinned.

What a good morning.


	5. Chapter 5 Wish Unwanted

**Okay, soz 'bout the long intro. I guess this is actually the bit most people will want to read on from anyway.**

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Marc hit a stone floor amid a vast crashing sound. The light was unbearably bright, burning his eyes through their lids. But as soon as it started, it faded, and he was lying on a cold stone floor. As he unwillingly slipped into a void, he heard a feminine scream and the bashing of metal. _What the hell just hit me?_ He thought. And then he was gone.

Celestia was startled into screaming for the first time in years. Discord's vanishing, and the appearance of this...thing, were terrifying to say the least. It looked dead. Discord reappeared then, already laughing at the Princess's expression.

"Discord! What have you done!" She shouted. Suddenly the throne room's doors burst open and Luna stormed in to ram Discord against the wall by the throat. This sudden charge surprised even the elemental in its ferocity.

"You are not hurt, my sister?" Luna cried, looking to Celestia.

"No sister, but Discord has done something evil this day." Celestia said, looking down at the creature at her hooves.

"Come now, Celestia, this was our deal; I show you a piece of their world and in exchange I abandon it forever." Discord said nervously, knowing then that he had taken this too far.

"No, Discord. Send it back, and we may not punish you too harshly."

"Ha!" Discord laughed, "You two are no longer in control of the Elements of Harmony!" He bent his neck to Luna's ear and whispered none too quietly, "Thanks to your defiance, the pair of you no longer represent them yourselves."

He turned to Celestia again. "If you want him sent back, you'll have to call in your precious little ponies to clean up...again. I cannot do it, only they can, when he's healed enough, of course. Harmony counters Chaos and all that."

Discord was triumphant. Celestia could say nothing: what Discord said was true. "Discord... you realize what this means...for you?".

"Yes, Princess, I am aware that I will no longer be allowed to use my powers freely. Until you need help sending him back, that is." With that, Discord turned and left the room, head held high.

Luna trotted over to her crestfallen sister. "Dear Celestia, what has happened here?"

Celestia looked out of the windows at her glorious rising Sun. "Luna, I must contact Twilight Sparkle. At once."

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Marc slowly opened his eyes, and was immediately aware that something was wrong. Everything was different. Colour was more vivid, textures that should have looked sharp were softened. The very light hitting his eyes felt richer. He saw all this in a moment of pure clarity, as well as the glowing, hovering cloth mere inches from his face.

He shot up and slapped the cloth away, giving a small yelp as he fell off the edge of the bed he had been placed on. To his shock, under the blanket he was covered with, he was completely naked. He whipped his head around, his eyes finally settling on the purple...something, standing mere feet away with its head cocked in a curious expression. He was terrified.

Twilight was surprised when the odd creature shot up over the bed that afternoon. Celestia had warned twilight of random and possibly violent reactions when the creature woke up, which was why Fluttershy had been rejected as a host. The Princess had instead built a special enchanted dwelling near the Everfree Forest in which to detain the creature. And now it was awake.

Twilight knew she had to inform the others at once, as well as the Princess, but she wasn't done yet. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her over the last three weeks. She had studied the creature, which the Princess titled a 'human', in its sleep. It did bother her that she had done so (downright embarrassed, at some points) but it had to be done. She still couldn't see why this creature was considered so dangerous. Now she could find out. With a sense of trepidation, she cleared her throat and said cheerily, "Hello"

This had to be some kind of sick joke, this weird, if very well animated plush toy. It sure looked like one. Then it spoke. Whatever it said it sounded cheerful. It had to be fake, otherwise it would be terrified like Marc himself was. _Okay_, Marc thought, _this must be some psych test to see if I've gone insane_. He stood up calmly and walked over to the puppet thing, He smiled at it, reaching out to touch the plastic head.

"you are very well built, I must say. I could almost swear you were breathing an - Owww!" He screamed and jumped back, shaking his hand. The thing had gone into a crouch, the horn its head glowing a purple light. It was...growling? he looked at his hand. Bite marks. He looked over at the creature, scared again, finally remembering what had happened._ you're leaving! forever..._

Marc went limp. He just slid to the floor, staring. "What are you?" he asked.

Twilight was worried. why had it smiled at her like that? And why had it tried to touch her? And why had her magical shield not stopped it?! She certainly did not mean to bite it, but it was saying things in a strange language. Maybe it had thought her easy to defeat, for it once again looked shocked. Drained. The last words it had spoken had sounded like a question, but what had it said? And her magic...she needed to speak with the Princess about this.

Twilight looked at the human for a while determining if she could turn around without it going for her. Eventually, it made a strange gesture with it forelegs, raising them up to the it's shoulder height, showing her...what? a sign of peace?

Twilight decided that she could back out of the room safely enough. The second she was through the door, she slammed it shut and galloped outside. She looked around wildly for somepony to help her. Seeing nopony at all, she quickly looked up, trying to find that rainbow streak on a cloud. "Please be there, please be there..." she muttered. The she saw a cyan hoof poking over a cloud above her." Oh, thank Celestia! Rainbow Dash! I need help!" Twilight shouted.

The hoof disappeared for a second, only to emerge at great speed with the rest of the pegasus it belonged to. "What's up, twilight? Is that thing acting up in its sleep again? Need me to pin it down?" said rainbow dash, landing lightly beside Twilight.

"No!" twilight exclaimed, "He's awake! I have to tell the Princess, can you watch him for me?"

Rainbow Dash looked confused for a second, "Him? Its a colt? It doesn't matter, I got your back. but would you mind sending somepony else over, just to be safe, you know?"

"Of course, Ill send the next pony I see who knows about this." said twilight, already turning to leave.

As she galloped away, Rainbow, gulped and went into the front room. The creature was held in the back room, facing the forest. Rainbow walked over, telling herself to be braver than this...she opened door slowly, worried about what she might see.

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**There you are, some ponies at last. Pls review. Should be getting a bit more interesting from here on in.**


	6. Chapter 6 That Could've Gone Better

**Hiya. Yep, there it is.**

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Marc stared at the door for the next ten minutes_. I'm going totally nuts. San-Marie pushed me too far._ Just then, his thoughts were interrupted by the the slow creaking of the door. A large pair of magenta eyes slowly peeked into the room, followed by the rest of the nervous looking creature.

It was similar to the previous one in shape, but the colour totally different. A sort of light blue body and_...A rainbow on its head? Yes, and its tail. Okay, stay calm. It looks just as scared as you do._ Marc looked at the creature and it looked as him. Then, It hunkered down into a ready stance, spreading its...Wings? _Damn, this was so weird_. It looked ready for a fight.

Not likely, It barely reached halfway up his chest, at best. Not wanting to scare it, Marc held out a hand as a sign of peace, but creature ruffled it's wings at the sight of the bite marks._ Oh yeah, those...damn._ He stopped and got up, still wrapped in the blanket, and sat on the edge of the bed.

Marc looked over the creature growling at him by the door. He couldn't blame it. If by some far-fetched (VERY far-fetched) stretch of reality, he was looking at a real creature...

Rainbow Dash was confused. First, this weird freak had smiled and shown her its strange forefoot with Twilight's teeth-marks. It looked like a challenge to Rainbow, so she had put it in its place. Now, though, it...He, Twilight had said...looked completely defeated, sitting wrapped in a blanket on the side of the bed, head low, and tears starting to show in his eyes. Rainbow made the connection: This creature wasn't that threatening, he was just scared.

She sat down and tucked back her wings. They looked at each other, both mis-trusting yet hopeful, for a long while.

Then there was a bash on the door, which flew open accompanied by a yell: "Rainbow! you better not ha' harmed that there monster-!"

Applejack tumbled into the room, much further than she meant to. There she was, sprawled the floor directly between Rainbow and the large alien animal.

"Ahuh..Howdy..." she mumbled as she rapidly tried to regain her balance, and back away. She only managed to trip over her own tail and land flat on her back next to Rainbow, who burst into laughter. The embarrassed Applejack noticed that the monster was laughing too.

"Oh, ponyfeathers...Rainbow! Ah felt sure you'da near killed it by now!"

"C'mon, Applejack, look at him! how could I fight a creature so miserable" Rainbow exclaimed. He was chuckling through his tears at the antics of the two friends.

"He? well...He sure don't look so bad when his laughin' at me." muttered a very peeved Applejack.

Marc had absolutely no idea what was going on. He finally seemed to have convinced the rainbow thing that he wasn't a threat when another of the creatures burst through the door shouting about something.

Its colouration was again completely different, this time an orange coat and blonde hair and tail._ And a hat? What the hell?_ It had landed rather comically flat out on the floor, before staggering away and falling over again, to the great amusement of the rainbow one. That was just hilarious.

Then followed a conversation between the pair of creatures, with many glances cast his way. Marc took the time to inspect them as they continued to talk in hushed tones. Their bodies reminded him loosely of horses, he guessed, but with beach balls for heads. Were it a different situation, he would not have been able to see them as anything but adorably cute. Of course, their worried expressions ruined it slightly.

At least they weren't aggressive anymore. they just looked awkward.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack stayed there for the rest of the day, with no idea what they were actually meant to do. By the time Twilight returned late that night, Rainbow Dash was sleeping in a corner while Applejack watched the alien. "Hello, Applejack!" exclaimed Twilight, excited at what she had to say. Applejack was startled out of her reverie by the excited pony charging into the room. "Gosh Twilight! You're gonna wake 'im up! he only just laid 'is head down."

"Oh, sorry about that, but the Princess told me of some useful spells that might help us understand him better! Coming from a different place, all my normal spells don't work on him, so I need to do something different. If we can talk to him, maybe we can figure out more about him, like where he's actually from."

"Wait up, didn't the Princess want to come and see 'im by herself? And didn't she already explain where he's from an' all?"

"Well, She only told me that he was from outside of Equestria. I don't know what that means, exactly, but since the Princess told me that direct magic won't work on him, she told me about a translator spell that would allow us to communicate another way, so we can find out!"

Twilight didn't wait to hear Applejack's worried "Uuuh...Are ya sure...?"

Marc had no idea what was going on. He was woken up by an odd buzzing sensation around his head. He sat bolt upright, trying to make sense of his location and company. He saw that the first creature he had seen, the purple one, had returned in the night. She looked tense, or under stress. Her horn has glowing that odd purple again as the sensation increased to a very uncomfortable level. And then it stopped. But something was different.

Applejack cried out when Twilight collapsed after her spell, "Twilight! Oh gosh, ah knew that magic stuff was a bad idea. You okay there?"

But Twilight didn't answer, she only moaned. Instead, Applejack heard a surprised exclamation, "What the hell just...happened?"

Applejack slowly looked up, into the eyes of the creature. Her jaw dropped. Instead of answering, she backed away and kicked the sleeping Rainbow into wakefulness.

"wha'? What happened? I'm up!" What she heard then was a bit of a shock.

"Hello, weird rainbow creature."

Rainbow was, to say it lightly, shocked out of her bracket. She jumped back and stared at the thing that had spoken to her. All she could think to to do was say, "What are you?"

She composed herself then, thinking of her reputation. but his response was even more of a shock.

"My name is Marc. I mean no harm to you and your friends. Please, help me."

Rainbow Dash crouched down and growled.

"Likely story"


	7. Chapter 7 A Semblance of Answers

**And now would be a good time for me to slow down o the writing a bit, maybe just one chapter a day...**

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Applejack whacked a hoof across the back of Rainbow's head."Can it, Dash, cant'cha see he's tryin' to be friendly?" She said, though in truth she wasn't particularly sure why she said it.

"But look what he did to Twilight! And did you hear what he called me?" Rainbow muttered, rubbing her head.

Twilight mumbled in the background, "Ugh...did it work?"

Applejack turned back to Twilight, helping her up. "Yeah, Sugarcube, it worked, and he's tryin' to talk to us."

"And Rainbow," She said, turning to the ruffled pegasus, "Your mane has startled even some ponies ah know, so don't take no offense from this here...whatever 'e is"

Marc was more than a little confused by the banter, but from what the purple creature had said (from her feotal position on the floor), it seemed that she had somehow made it possible for them to communicate.

_Magic? yeah, right..._

The rainbow one stepped forward, mollified slightly by the orange one's words, and said in her unusual voice, "Well, my name's Rainbow Dash, and you're the weird creature here, so be careful."

Applejack was going to reprimand the rainbow mare again but was cut off by an unexpected reply.

"I'm sorry about that, and I suppose you're right. This is very strange for me, and I'd really appreciate an explanation as to why...well, why I am here." Marc finished. He was practicing some serious control here, knowing that he couldn't freak them out more.

Applejack spoke up, "Well, howdy, uh, Marc? Um, m'names Applejack, and, uh, Twilight, we need some speechifyin' here..."

Applejack looked to Twilight, who rubbed her head, thinking of how to continue. "Ah, yes, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and you've met my pony friends here. Now, this is hard to explain, so let's start with what we know. I know that your name is Marc and that you are a male of your species, a human. You are in the land of Equestria, and the Princess said the you were brought here by a magical experiment that didn't work out. I have cast a spell in around you that translates what you say into our language when you speak, and ours into yours when you hear us. It is imperfect, but it will suffice until I can teach you Equestrian..."

Marc listened to Twilight (Odd name, but anyway) as she explained the situation. Ponies? Okay, that's logical... Kinda. Princess? No idea, store for later. Equestria? Painful name, but everything here seemed to be named like that. This magic was a bit freaky, but he had to believe it now.

When she got to the part about him being locked unconcious in this room for three full weeks, though, he couldn't contain a cough of shock.

Twilight looked at the human, worried, but quickly continued, "We kept you hydrated and sustained you on a drip. My friend Fluttershy worked out what sort of diet you might have by your teeth and form, but you must still feel weak and hungry."

Twilight turned to Applejack and whispered, "I hadn't thought to bring food, could you go grab a few things? I don't know what he'll want." .

"sure thing, Twilight" She said back.

As Applejack turned to leave, Twilight continued, " We and some few other ponies were charged with your care until a safe way to return you is found. Now, any questions?"

Marc looked over at Twilight from where he still sat. _T__hree weeks? what the hell happened to me?_ He was stiff and cold, and had no idea where to start. Oh, wait...

"Yeah, first, can I have my clothes back, and second, may I have something to eat?"

Twilight was actually a little unprepared for the practicality of the requests.

. Rainbow chuckled at Twilight's indecision. "Well, what did you expect? He's been stuck in bed for three whole weeks! I know what you need, to get outside!" she exclaimed, but twilight hushed her, "Rainbow Dash!" She turned to Marc and said, "I'm sorry, but going outside is out of the question until we know if you're safe. I'm sorry if this is a problem for you, but we are under orders and there's a town outside; we can't risk it yet."

Marc guessed that made sense. Wait, a town outside? Yes, a town full of these strange adorable pony things waiting to show him a range of reactions who's vastness could only be rivaled by their range of colours... Well, if he could believe magic, he could believe that. Maybe going outside wasn't such a good idea after all. "Don't worry, I think I understand that."

He laid back, looking at the wooden rafters of his confinement cell, and tried to absorb some of what he was being told. Still In the back of his mind was the niggling fear that he had simply gone utterly insane. _Oh well, if that's the case, I might as work with it._

The next question he asked was one he imagined the purple pony would want to answer.

"Who is this Princess?"

Twilight smiled.

Rainbow groaned and fell over, "Oh, this is gonna take forever!"

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**Hope this is received well, I tried to get most of the explaining out of the way here, but I don't want it to seem abrupt. so hope yo enjoyed it, and please review. Next chapter shortly**


	8. Chapter 8 Unlikely Gift

**So much for waiting a day...I just got an idea, so here it is.**

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If only Rainbow Dash had known just how right she was.

It took Twilight another two weeks to explain to Marc everything she considered necessary for him to know. Of course, what Twilight considered as necessary involved a vast amount of obscure and vague information that often went completely over Marc's head. Luckily for him, every now and again, Applejack would come around with food and news for the pair, since Twilight had more or less moved in so as to dedicate herself to Marc's education. They both needed nourishment.

Marc could certainly have done with something other than the constant stream of apples and apple products. Too much pie...Too many fritters and fries...

In this, he received help from the most unexpected source. That evening, while Twilight was dozing in amongst her notes on the Equestrian language and sub-dialects, Marc heard a knock on the barred window of his room: He still had not earned the right to stay in the second room without supervision.

He got off the edge of his bed where he had been putting on the spare pair of baggy pants and a loose shirt that had somehow appeared in a bundle with his belongings, literally the clothes of his back, one day ('Compliments of Rarity', another unicorn, apparently), and walked over to see what it was. He was surprised to see the slats being removed from the outside.

Then he saw, through the growing gaps, a snatch of rainbow-coloured mane.

Marc groaned. Not her. She was probably going to challenge him to another 'hoof wrestle'. The first time, Rainbow Dash had been surprised at how difficult Marc had been to beat; He was surprised that he had been beaten at all. But he didn't want a rematch, so he moaned out at her, "Rainbow, please..."

"Shut up, will you, I gotta get these things off." Marc held his tongue as she removed the last of the slats. Then he found himself staring at the large magenta eyes, or, more importantly, the bag she held in her mouth, with it's incredible aroma.

"Is...is that...roast fish?"

Rainbow dropped the package on the small table under the window an answered, "Uh, yeah, a friend of mine, Thunderlane, had a cloud party and there were some left overs. I figured you'd be tired of apples and Fluttershy said you probably ate fish too, so...I just wanted to apologize for being mean to you the last while."

She was obviously embarrassed. Marc was a little taken aback at this: Rainbow Dash did not seem the type to apologize, no matter how abrupt.

She noticed him pause, and said in a hurt tone, "Well I just was trying to do something nice. I guess I have breakfast after all." She leant back through the window and grabbed the package.

She was about to take off when Marc finally realized what had just happened, and shouted after her, "Rainbow Dash! Please, wait!"

She turned reluctantly to face him, already hovering with the package in her mouth.

Marc sighed in relief, then said, "You just gave me a shock, please, you have absolutely no idea how welcome some fish would be right now. Come on in, if you care to."

She came back to earth and put the fish down. Then slowly worked her through the window, watching Marc the whole time. When she was in the room, she nudged package of food across to Marc.  
Marc smiled at the silent Pegasus, but he had a serious question. "Rainbow Dash, how many ponies eat fish? I had no idea, all I've eaten so far is-"

"Apples, right?" Rainbow interjected.

Marc smiled his agreement

"Well," Rainbow began, "Only pegasi eat fish. Fluttershy says it's cause we need more energy to fly, but nowadays it's only common to eat fish in Cloudsdale and a few other cloud-towns. Twilight should explain this, but really, its better if you don't mention this to her..." she said.

She was quite uneasy, but Marc felt nothing but gratitude. "This is greatly appreciated, thank you." Marc opened the package and began to eat the very well prepared fish. It even had a slice of lemon on it.

One thing he'd forgotten about in his ecstasy was his tutor in the next room.

Twilight had gone to the locked door when she heard Marc shout, But listened first before entering. Now, she pulled open the door to see a very awkward but mildly pleased Rainbow Dash watching Marc pick at the fish she'd brought him.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight shouted out, Before anything else could be said, Rainbow took off and tackled Twilight into the front room, slamming the door closed behind her somehow.

Marc sat dead still for a second, before scooting over to the door, the fish forgotten as he tried to hear what was going on. He could hear little through the door until the shouting began.

"You should have asked me before you gave him anything!" Twilight was very mad

"You wouldn't have let me give it to him! I was just trying to be friendly, you'd understand if you werent trying to shove all that history down his throat! He doesn't even know that pegasi eat fish!" Rainbow defended herself

"The Princess put me in charge of him! I cant have you sneaking in through the window...THE WINDOW!"

Both mares came tumbling back into the room, looking around wildly, and fell in a tangle on the floor. Marc, having heard the commotion, had stepped out of the way just in time. Now, he leaned down to the pair. he touched Twilight on the shoulder. She froze and looked up at him, waiting for him to act.

He said quietly, "Would you like some help?"

Twilight tentatively offered a hoof. Marc took it and pulled her to her hooves, before turning and putting a similarly stricken Rainbow Dash in a seated position.

"I hope you two are okay. Thanks for the fish, Rainbow. Good night."

Then he went to bed.

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**I quite liked this chapter. I think the story is improving, but please leave a review and share some opinions. Have a good one**


	9. Chapter 9 A Freedom Earned, A Duty Given

**I'm really gonna have to stick to one chapter a day, this is ridiculous... anyway, enjoy!**

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The next day, the inevitable happened. Marc was eating breakfast of...you guessed it...apples, when an extremely over excited Twilight stormed in, began almost pathologically organizing her notes, and babbling so fast that the translator spell she had cast couldn't keep with her.

"Woah, there, Twilight! Twilight, stop!" Marc stepped in front of her, halting her activities.

She stared up at him unseeing for a second. Then she focused enough to say, "The Princesses are both outside."

Marc straightened and took a deep breath. _Finally._

Princess Celestia was so very tired. Discord had become very nearly unmanageable over the past few weeks. Only now that he had been 'detained' did she feel it was safe to visit the creature that Discord had summoned. Against her own better judgement, Luna had convinced her to observe the plane from which the human came, to learn what she could of his kind and how he may act. What she had seen had terrified her.

She entered the small holding-cottage that contained the being, trailed by a wary Luna. Twilight looked nervous, as well she should. The human was standing upright by the open door of his room.

Then he slowly stepped forward and...bowed?

"It is a pleasure to finally meet your royal Highnesses. May I introduce myself?"

Celestia was a little taken aback by his show of good manners. She remained quiet and gestured for him to continue.

"My name is Marc Warner. I would like to thank to thank you for your hospitality and making sure that I was kept well during my ...Incapacitation." Marc finished his address and stepped back to indicate such.

Celestia immediately set aside all of her misgivings. She had felt so sure that discord would have brought the most uncontrollable human he could, but his plan seemed to have failed. She looked over to Twilight and Luna by the door.

"Would you give us a moment? There are things I must explain to our friend."

Marc was surprised by the princess's seeming trust in him. Once the other two ponies had left, Celestia turned her attention down to Marc. "Hello, Marc. I am Princess Celestia. I am glad that you are in good health. Has Twilight undertaken your care well?"

Marc felt he was required to be polite but honest here. "Her lessons about Equestria have been comprehensive and informative. I would also mention her friend Applejack in thanks for feeding us over this time. However, there was an incident last night that Twilight will no doubt talk to you about involving Rainbow Dash, but I feel compelled to-"

"Marc, I can see this is tedious for you, so please, speak plainly." Celestia said.  
Marc sighed with relief. "Well, um, Rainbow Dash secretly brought me some food, a fish, because she noticed that I wasn't happy on and almost entirely apple diet. She snuck it in so Twilight wouldn't stop her. I thank her greatly and hope you don't punish her too badly."

Celestia thought for a second. "Indeed. I will look into this later, but for now I must explain to you why you appeared here."

Marc sat down. This was what he wanted to hear. "You were brought here by a spirit, an Elemental, a creature that can span the planes of existence, though it must always return to the plane it originated from. This Elemental is called Discord, and represents all the facets of chaos. Now, did Twilight explain about the elements of Harmony?"

Marc Nodded

The Princess continued, "Twilight and her friends together represent Harmony. At one point in the distant past, there were also elements of Chaos, the exact opposites of the elements of harmony. But, through a process not fully understood now, these elements were bound together to form the being called Discord that we have today. Now, due to the nature of the magic he used, he can't send you back, but my sister and I are working out a way to return you to your home."

Marc nodded. Twilight had mentioned Discord a few times, but not his origin. "So, if I have to stay here for awhile, how will I ...be handled?"

The Princess smiled. "Let us go outside, shall we?"

Marc was ecstatic. _Outside_! He didn't care what it might look like, or feel like, or how he may be treated, just so long as he felt some sunshine on his long deprived skin. He literally needed it.

They stepped out into the glaring light of a summer morning. When Marc's eyes adjusted he saw a very surprised group of ponies. Yes, a group, seven altogether, standing under a tree a few paces from the door. Marc's attention, though, was attracted more to the brilliantly coloured surroundings. He had never seen grass so green or skies so blue. It was all rather awe inspiring.

Of course, it didn't last all that long.

All of a sudden his entire range of senses was assaulted. His eyes by a mass of solid shades of pink, his ears by a rapid fire squeaking too fast for the translator spell to handle, his his tongue by an impossibly sweet cupcake that somehow got shoved into his mouth.

Marc jumped back and spat out the confection, before seeing the overly pink pony being bumped out of the way by Applejack.

"Woah, there Pinky Pie! You gonna scare 'im!" She looked at Marc, smiling. "Sorry 'bout that, sugarcube, That's just Pinky Pie, she gets a little excited when she meets strangers."

Marc was about to thank her, but the white unicorn in the group stepped forward. "Good morning! I see you are wearing my creation...Marc, was it?" She gave the apparel an appraising eye.

"Ah, so you must be Rarity, I take it. Yes, thank you, you got these almost perfect." Marc replied with a glance at the pants and shirt he had been given. Rarity immediately looked smug. "You see girls!, I did get it right!"

Marc was surprised at how easy going these other ponies were, though they had all heard about him from Applejack, and had seen him at some point or another during his coma. Still, after being locked up like a bomb for weeks this friendliness was refreshing. But then there was the exception, sitting behind the others with her heard down.

Marc assumed this to be Fluttershy, the only other pony who's name he'd heard. She was also the one to whom he owed the most thanks. "Fluttershy?"

She looked up at him as the other ponies moved away."Oh...Hello..."

Marc said quietly, "Fluttershy, I would just like to thank you for helping to keep me alive during the time I was out. If not for you I would no doubt be dead."

Everypony was again surprised by Marc's vote of thanks, but none more than a now VERY embarrassed Fluttershy, who merely squeaked in reply and flew off. Marc hadn't expected that, but anyway, back to the matter at hand.

He turned to hear the Princess speak "That was very well spoken, Marc, and I'm sure that you will forgive Fluttershy her meekness. Now, my little ponies, I have something to say to you all. First, Marc cannot remain confined like this, it is cruel to keep him so. Therefore, he must be introduced to the town of Ponyville tonight at the Royal Euphony Concert. I will make arrangements for his inclusion. Rainbow Dash, will you step forward?"

Rainbow did so nervously.

"Marc told me what you did last night. Although you had your heart in the right place, you should not have ignored Twilight's authority. A punishment must be handed to you."

Rainbow looked terrified, and Marc was about to come to her defense but before he could: "It is your task to introduce Marc to the town."

Rainbow nodded and slunk back to her friends. Twilight Looked a little dumbfounded. "Twilight, you should have made a note of what Marc would need to eat, so equally your punishment is NOT being able to introduce Marc to the town." Twilight head and ears dropped.

Marc was a little taken with this incredibly elegant way of dealing with what may have been a touchy situation. A Princess indeed.

"Marc, meeting the town will be difficult, but you will have a friend by your side, so do not worry over-much. Now, my sister also has words for you, in private. She will explain some other things. In the meantime, Twilight, I would like for you to arrange a bed for Marc at Rosewood Cottage. I will see you all this evening." And with that, Celestia took off.

Marc was still thinking about one thing the Princess had said. A friend by your side. _Friend_. He wasn't sure why, but that did not sit easy in his chest. He had never been good at handling friendship. It just made him think of Gale. She at least had hands for god's sake.

"You are thinking of your friends and home, Marc, are you not?" Said Princess Luna, after the other ponies had retreated over the hill in front of the cottage.

Marc was surprised by her vigilance. "Yes, your highness, I was. How did you know?"

She chuckled a little, "You may call me Luna. As the Princess of the night, I am also the Warden of Dreams. I have seen your torments in the night, and have tried to help you forget them on waking."

This really shocked Marc. _She was in my head?!_ But he could be nothing but thankful to her. Dreams that would have troubled him had been soothed by her presence. "Thank you, Princess. I miss my friends dearly. I haven't many, but I consider them near as blood."

Luna was saddened by Marc's words. Unbeknownst to her sister, Luna had secretly used the powers Discord had mentioned to look in on how Marc had lived, and the repercussions of his disappearance.

The State Orphanage stated that Marc had run away. Gale thought it was her fault for the events of that evening and had cried herself to sleep over it every night since. San-Marie had gone into depression, believing that Marc had ended his life over the pain she had caused him. The search for him had long wound down. But he was sorely missed, even by some that never knew his name. He had had a presence in his world that no one recognized until he was gone.

She had to let him know.

"Marc, please know this; Your friends cared for you deeply, and still do. And you have friends here now, too. You have endeared yourself to them so much that they have helped you beyond their duties. We will help you to return when it is possible."

Marc nodded, tears springing unbidden to his eyes. _How does she know?_ But he didn't ask, knowing it would only cause him more pain. "Thank you Princess, for your comfort."

Rainbow Dash had waited just beyond the hill for the Princess to finish explaining things to Marc. She was nervous as to how the town would react to her introducing Marc to them all. What would the other ponies think of her?_ I'm going to a laughing stock!_ But she did not regret giving Marc that meal: She was proud, yes, but Marc needed help, and that was more important. Just then, She saw Princess Luna flying away over the rise of the hill.

Rainbow flitted over to the cottage built against the trees, to see Marc sitting against the wall, his head in his hands.  
"Marc? Hey, are you okay?" She asked, worried. He looked like he was crying.

Marc smiled through the last of his tears, beginning to laugh for no apparent reason. "Yeah, it's just a lot to take in. but I think I'm going to be fine here, Dash" he stood up and looked into her concerned eyes.

"How about we start towards town...friend?" He Asked. They both grinned.

They walked towards Ponyville, chatting about what was to come.

* * *

**I'm pleased with that. Lets see what happens next time. **


	10. Chapter 10 Just Dropping By

Rainbow Dash decided that since she was meant to only reveal Marc to the ponies of Ponyville that evening during the Royal Euphony Concert, She would show Marc show him the town from a better vantage point. One VERY far from any ponies.

Marc was tired after the first half an hour, but Rainbow Dash didn't seem to notice. The conversation had died when he had to focus more on breathing to keep up with the energetic pony.

Hours later, she looked over to him huffing along behind her on the slope they were climbing. "Uh, Marc? You okay? You look sick."

Marc shot her a glance. "Well, not being outside for over a month may have knocked me a bit. Not to mention being bed-ridden for most of it."

He scrambled up the rocks after her for a bit longer. After what felt like another hour, Marc saw her jump up to a ridge and stand there, waiting for him. He quickly climbed to where she was standing and stood next to her.

Silence

They were standing at the top of a long spur that jutted out of the ground overlooking Ponyville and the edge of the Everfree Forest. The town was quite distant. The sun was starting its descent on the horizon, it's rays angling across treetops. Marc looked around him. Behind him in the hazy distance rose a great mountain, with graceful spires and towers he recognized to be Canterlot perched defiantly on the sheer mountainside.

In front of him grew a great spread of trees: Whitetail Wood. On the border of the proud forest stood the cottages and other dwellings of Ponyville. On the far side he could make out a large Apple Orchard where he assumed the Apple Family lived and worked.

As the rays of Celestia's sun hit the thatched roofs of the town and various shades of leaves between where he was standing and the whole horizon, everything lit up in fantastic colours that put any rainbow on earth to shame. Marc's breath left his body at the sheer beauty that he saw there. The village merged with and complimented the surrounding forests and fields instead of defying them as a human settlement would. The setting touched him in a deep and profound way he never would have expected.

Rainbow Dash scuffed the ground awkwardly with a hoof. She hadn't planned for such a magnificent sunset. _It is beautiful though..._ " Uh, I thought you might like to see everything from a vantage point so you could get around easier-"

Marc reached out a hand and rested it against Rainbow's shoulder, silencing her.

Together they watched the sun go down and the moon rise behind them, bathing the whole vista in its ghostly pearlescent light

Eventually Marc looked down to Rainbow Dash standing awkwardly by his side. "Thank you for this Rainbow, it's just what I needed."

Rainbow jumped up, Needing to move again. "Don't go soft on me, I just wanted you get a good look at things. Now come on, you wasted so much time that I'm gonna had to fly you back to town!"

Marc didn't quite see that happening. Rainbow's wings looked undersized to him already. He looked up at her questioningly. "I don't think that's physically possible, Rainbow, I mean, I probably weigh roughly the same as you do-"

He had no chance to continue as Rainbow shot down, wrapped her hooves around his chest and lifted off with ease. "See? I told you! DON'T doubt my flying skills, I'm the best there is! And I'm nowhere near as fat as you."

Marc sighed, smiling at her quip, as they sped through the air._ How do these ponies break so many rules of physics? Oh well._ He merely shifted to a more comfortable position, holding onto Rainbow's hooves for some extra security, and settled in for the flight.

After a while he heard a sweet melodic sound coming from the town square. The concert had already begun. it wasn't a problem since he was only due to be revealed later anyway, but he still felt butterflies. _This is gonna be a rough night._

Then he felt Rainbow dive to the side. "Hey, watch out Derpy! You nearly hit me!"

Marc saw the other pegasus barreling through the sky, trying to get a good look at him.

"Hey Rainbow, w-who's that? What is it? Can I t-talk to it?"

Unfortunately, Derpy got way too close in her excitment and her wings entangled themselves with Rainbow's. Marc felt a sickening lurch as the two pegasi tumbled to the ground. Marc ended up falling free of Rainbow Dash's grip.

As he fell, Marc thought, rather calmly, _Well, that's that._  
But he didn't die. Instead he was hit by a huge uprush of air and confetti, and for some reason a table cloth, that slowed his fall enough to avoid breaking any bones. The ground still hit him with enough force to wind him for a few minutes. He shook his head and tried to find Rainbow Dash and Derpy while attempting to shed the large piece of fabric that had ensnared him. The two pegasi lay in a heap nearby, not moving.

_Oh no._

Marc thought that the crash had deafened him, for he couldn't hear a sound. Once he'd rolled over, though, he saw that wasn't why it was quiet.

Standing around him, with looks of shock and terror etched into their usually happy faces, was the entire population of Ponyville.

"Oops."


	11. Chapter 11 Beast at the Ball

**Nope, no waiting: here it is.**

* * *

A pin dropped in Cloudsdale would've been heard in the seemingly endless silence. Marc knew that if he moved an inch, mass panic wouldn't be far away. He watched the multicoloured herd as a few of the ponies began backing away, and whispers started to become screams of fear.

But then, pink fate intervened.

"Oh, hi Marc! Did you like my confetti cannon? It sure can come in useful for all sorts of things!"

Pinkie Pie ran up to the prone human and threw a hoof over his shoulder. "Hey, everypony! Come and meet my new friend, Marc! Don't be afraid! He just dropped in to visit!"

Pinkie stopped when she heard her own pun, then burst out laughing and fell over.

The ponies seemed torn between what their instincts told them and what Pinkie was saying. Luckily, Applejack stepped forward too. "Howdy Marc. You could'a made a better entrance, but now you're here, lets get you cleaned up."

She trotted over and offered a shoulder to Marc so that he could pull himself upright. His stature set more ponies whispering, much to the annoyance of Applejack. "Hey now, don't be rude, He won't hurt ya none. Ya'll heard there was somepony special stayn' out in that cottage by the forest? Well, this here's 'im! C'mon now, be neighbourly!"

Marc pulled himself upright and got his balance after the fall. He looked over to where Rainbow Dash and Derpy were trying to untangle themselves.

"Hey, would someone help those two, they look a sight." At this, the ponies seemed to decide that Marc couldn't be much a threat. After all, Applejack had said he was fine and she was honest as they come.

Still, the majority stepped away uneasily and went about their business. But some stayed.

A dark coloured Pegasus stallion trotted around and helped Rainbow to jump away from the awkwardly positioned Derpy, happy to be rid of the clumsy mare. "Thanks Thunderlane... Derpy! why didn't you stay away like I told you!"

Rainbow Dash was incredibly mad. Derpy had just made her crash in front of her entire town, fail the mission the Princess had given her, and drop her friend, nearly to his death! Before anyone could stop her, she turned and flew off with tears of mortification in her eyes.

Thunderlane growled at the grey pegasus huddled on the ground before turning back to rejoin the crowd of milling ponies that continued to give Marc a wide berth.

Marc had a clear sight of the poor Derpy as she slowly regained her hooves with a little stagger. Rainbow had landed mostly on top of her and she was a bit beaten up.

Marc walked over to her

"Hi, I'm Marc. Are you okay, Derpy?" A few ponies stopped and watched.

Derpy looked up at Marc with surprise in her golden eyes. Then her eyes unfocused and she looked down, saying, "I-Im s-sorry crashed you into, I mean...Sorry."

She looked miserable as she began to slink away. "Hey, I thought you wanted to talk to me?" Marc said. He'd had experience with humans with much the same problems at the Orphanage.

Derpy turned to look at him again, looking confused. "wha'?

Marc sat on Pinkie's Party Cannon, now in the centre of the abandoned area around him. "Come and sit with me, then we can talk a little bit, since you're the only pony not scared of me. you aren't scared, are you?" Derpy shook her head and trotted up to sit on the other end of the cannon. Unfortunately, her weight on the end of the barrel caused the entire contraption to tip down, throwing Marc over the once again sprawled-out Pegasus. Marc sat up and looked aghast at Derpy. "Wow, you have one hell of the skill there."

"Buck it.." Derpy whispered as she sat up. "...s-sorry again..."  
Marc smiled, "Don't worry about it, this ground is actually more comfortable anyway. So, Derpy-"

Ditzy...' she said with some vehemence. "M-my name's Ditzy Doo, n-not Derpy"

Marc realized that Derpy must have been an insulting name that had just stuck. He nodded apologetically, "I'm sorry, Ditzy, I'll remember that from now on."

He smiled at her until she finally got the nerve to look up at him and smile back.

"Aww! That's too cute!" It calls for a cupcake! And Ditzy, I got you a muffin!" Pinkie Pie ruined the moment slightly, but at least she added some cheer to it. Ditzy fell to her muffin like she'd lived through a seven year famine, And Marc couldn't help but laugh at that.

Applejack noticed a distinct shift in the crowd's attention, towards the area more or less abandoned since Marc's startling entrance. _Thank Celestia for Pinkie Sense_, she thought.

Now, she pushed her way through the the press of ponies beginning to surround her to watch in amazment as Marc sat with Pinkie Pie and Derpy, enjoying a snack and laughing like old friends.

"Good job, there, Marc." she whispered to herself, grinning.

Marc's head shot up when he heard the speakers turn back on with a buzz of static, followed by a voice over the massive sound system. Marc looked over to the stage.

"Well, go-o-od evening Everypony! We had an interesting interuption there! My good friend Rainbow Dash says its time to introduce our infamous gate-crasher! Marc! You better hoof your ass over here, I wanna see an alien!"

Marc got up and walked towards the stage set up in front of town hall. He noticed that the voice came from a white unicorn with a shockingly blue mane dancing about in the sound booth. _Shades on a pony. Now I've seen everything_, Marc thought, knowing it wasn't the truth.

It took a while to move through the now curious crowd of ponies, but soon he was standing before the stage, looking up at a slightly annoyed grey pony holding, of all things, a cello. He guessed he was holding up her show. The other band members looked just as peeved. Suddenely a microphone hit him upside the head. He instinctively grabbed it and glared at the unicorn in the sound booth. She just grinned.

Marc held the microphone awkwardly, and said into it, "Hiya every...pony."

It was the right thing to say. One or two ponies cheered (Marc recognized Applejack and Ditzy in there), and then a smattering of the crowd followed suit.

Marc spoke again. "Now, I'm pleased to meet you all, and I hope you'll forgive my accidental landing. I didn't mean to scare anypony."

A little more sporadic cheering, but mostly an awkward silence.

Marc cleared his throat and said. "Well, I think I'll bid you all a good night." Marc walked over to the sound booth and handed up the microphone to the pony there. She looked at him curiously. "Hey, dude, lookin' rough...Tell ya what, come to my place tomorrow, yeah? Rainbow said you were staying at Rosewood Cottage, if you look out the kitchen window, you can see my place; its the one with the lightning rod by the big tree."

Marc was very surprised to get and invitation like this. "Thank you, may I ask your name...?"

"Uh, sorry dude, chat tomorrow, gotta get to work, SEE YA!" She shouted as a massive wave of sound blasted from the speakers around her.

The concert started up again. As he quickly scuttled to a slightly less noisy location, Marc wondered how Rainbow had gotten hold of that pony when she had already left. Soon, he was gathered by Rarity as he walked through the crowd, still getting nervous looks. she ushered him out of the square to where it was a little more quiet.

Then she turned to him and said rapid fire, "Well, darling, that plan went completely awry! Now, don't worry, the Princess comes out at the end of the show , that was when Rainbow Dash was meant to lead you onto stage, now she'll cover for you. Anyway I will lead you to the cottage up the road here-"

"R-Rarity?"

"Rarity looked annoyed at Ditzy's interruption, "Please dear, I'm talking-"

"Can I t-take Marc to R-Rosewood? I mean, I-I live t-there an' all."

Marc looked at Rarity, "I think Ditzy can handle it, right? Dont worry, things went far better than I ever expected. I thought I would be chased away, actually."

Rarity tossed her mane, "Oh please, ponies are far to polite for that sort of thing."

She thought for a second, "Well. if Der...Ditzy is going home too, then I don't see any harm in her taking you there. Just don't get lost again, Ditzy."

And with that, she headed back to the concert. Marc looked over the roofs of the cottages and saw a tell-tale spray of confetti. _Pinkie pie._

"S-should we go?" Marc followed Ditzy Doo up the road in silence or a while before she spoke, much more confident than before, "Um, thanks for not shouting at me or anything, and I-I'm sorry I crashed into you and Dash. I'm just a little clumsy sometimes..."

"It's okay Ditzy, we all make mistakes. But please try not to hit into me again, it really hurt."

Ditzy raised one wing and scowled at all the crushed feathers. "Yeah. I know."

Marc laughed along with her at that, and patted her on the shoulder."C'mon Ditzy, lets see what Rosewood is like."

She smiled gratefully, saying. "Oh, Rosewood is great! all the ponies are nice there! Scootaloo and m'sister Dinky... and all sorts of fun ponies s-stay there!"

Marc realized something then. Rosewood cottage.

The town Orphanage

When he got there, he didn't even hear Rainbow Dash as she greeted him from the roof where she'd been waiting: He stormed through the door and collapsed on the bed a confused Ditzy offered him.

He didn't hear or feel anything around him, he could only think as he cried silently to sleep:

_Even here, I'm an Orphan._

_Not again._

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**There I go again, breaking my own rules...Oh well. if any of these chapters feel a little rushed, it's because they are! I just can't help myself! Anyway, seriously, please review so I can get an idea of what I can improve on; the story will only get better if you do! Have good one.**


	12. Chapter 12 Misunderstandings

**So I think I need to spend some time going over my other chapters to fix some mistakes I noticed. Anyway, here's something to tide you over until I can write again, won't be long...Never is...**

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Marc woke up with a terrible scratch in his throat and gritty eyes. He wished desperately that he never had. As he lay there, he tried to think logically about the situation. But he couldn't. Even these ponies had relegated him to a home for the parentless and social outcasts.

He rolled out of the narrow bed and crawled over to the window. As he looked out over the town; The sun was rising beside the mountain in the far distance. It was at least a beautiful view. His eyes started tearing up again.

"Uh, Marc? Are you okay?" Rainbow Dash stood behind him in the doorway at the other end of the long room. She's been waiting for him to wake up.

Marc turned and stared blankly at her.

"Marc, I'm sorry I dropped you yesterday, things just got a little out of hoof, with that Derpy flying around-"

"Her name's Ditzy, you know." Marc whispered.

Rainbow barely heard him. Still, he sounded hissing mad. "Oh, I'm sorry. No one calls her that anymore, but I'm glad you made another friend-"

"Friend?!" Marc cried out, "Friend?! I had friends! Not many, but enough to keep me happy. And you know what? My friends back home tried their best to get me out of the damn Orphanage, not trying to put me in one!"

Marc spun around around and sat on the edge of the bed, struggling to suppress his wildly spiraling emotions. _This shouldn't be hitting me this hard._

Rainbow Dash was very confused. Marc didn't like Rosewood? _But everypony likes Rosewood! what the hay is going on!_

"Marc, hey, I'll go talk to Twilight, I'm sure she can help with..." She shook her head, "Whatever, you know what? I've tried to help, and if if this is how its gonna go, then I'm not gonna even bother." She turned and abruptly flew away.

Marc didn't look at the entrance. Instead he looked the other way to the archway leading into the next part of the long building that made up Rosewood Cottage. Ditzy stood there, tears in her eyes., "I-I t-thought you l-liked R-Rose...wood."

Marc froze for a second, "Ditzy...wait, I-"

Ditzy trembled as she galloped out the door, crying.

Marc swore into his fist. This had to be the worst day he'd had since arriving in this freaky world. He forced himself up and stormed out the door into the painful sunlight.

He heard sobbing in a tree in the garden, but ignored it and stumbled down the path towards the village, with no idea where he was actually going. Ponies shot him worried looks when they noticed his upset face, but he was only aware of them when he nearly bumped into them.

A mint-green unicorn accidentally walked into him, spilling her smoothie on impact. _Those pants needed a wash anyway_, he thought as he stopped, looking at the mess of blended oats down his trouser leg.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you! Are you okay?" Marc looked at her. She looked genuinely concerned.

Marc faked a smile, but it barely made it past a grimace. "Yeah, I'm just having a rough morning."

Then he remembered what he was supposed to be doing this morning. Might as well visit that odd pony from last night. "Hey, you know where that pony from the sound booth last night, lives? I'm supposed to meet her today."

"Oh, yeah, Vinyl! She's my neighbor! Then again almost everypony is your neighbor in a town this small. Come on, I'll show you, I was going home anyway. My name is Lyra by the way." She trotted off down the street without waiting for an answer.

Marc couldn't help but be amused at the bubbly pony as he followed her down the road.

Eventually he saw the huge lightning rod poking out of the roof of the relatively large cottage. Lyra was already bouncing over to her own cottage across the street, "See ya later Mr. Marc!"

Marc, knocked on vinyl's door and waited. _What is that thumping noise anyway?_

When the door opened, he was hit in the face by a sheer wall of bass and rhythm that took his breath away. But other than her slightly quivering mane, the pony in the doorway seemed unaffected by the thumping sound, her goggles and headphones...No, earmuffs...protecting her from what should have caused her lasting bodily damage.

She punched something on the inner wall by the door, stopping the music before it gave Marc internal bleeding. "Oh, hi!, c'mon in! I was just busy working!" She stopped when she saw the state of him, "Uh, got little something on ya there...Never mind, come, grab a seat."

Marc swayed slightly as he walked into a spacious living room. Well, it would have been spacious were it not for the literally dozens of speakers and mixing boards littering the room in a random manner.

Marc wasn't actually all that surprised. "Hello... I never really caught your name last night, you know."

Vinyl Laughed at that. "Oh, that's what you were trying to say! Well. I'm Vinyl Scratch, and...um, Octavia is in her room, There's a spell on it so she can't hear anything in the rest of the house when her door's closed...Anyway, How ya doing? How'd ya like Rosewood Cottage? Pretty neat place, huh?"

Marc looked at her in confusion, "What? Isn't Rosewood the town Orphanage? Why would I enjoy being put in a glorified homeless shelter?"

Vinyl was shocked at this, " Whoa, dude, I have no idea what you're talking about, but Rosewood is like, the most awesome hangout if you're in a jam. I mean, anypony with trouble is welcome there anytime! I have to stay there sometimes when Octy gets mad at me, and that's often, I can tell you. Didn't you and Ditzy get on last night?"

Marc didn't understand what she meant. "Wait, isn't Rosewood a home for ...well, the town's parentless or disabled ponies?"

Vinyl took off her goggles so that Marc could fully appreciate her annoyed expression, "No, no...I mean, sometimes ponies like that do stay there, but mostly it's just ponies looking to get away from it all. Like, Ditzy stays there cause she needs a place in Ponyville so she can run her deliveries, but isn't settled long enough to need her own place, so she helps look after the cottage, and Scootaloo has that wing thing, so she is staying there til she is fit enough to go to flight school in Cloudsdale...Did you even ask what Rosewood was before going there? Please tell me you didn't do anything stupid before you came here?"

Marc realized his mistake. "Oh god...I may have said some things I need to apologize for."

Vinyl sighed and sat down on a beanbag. "Need to talk about it first?"

Marc looked down, thinking hard. " In my world...I was in a big orphanage for people with mental disabilities. I hated it there, I was always being tested and moved around. I may have overreacted when I thought I was being put into another one."

Vinyl looked at him blankly. "Um, I have no idea what you're talking about, why were you in there in the first place?"

Marc coughed a bit, becoming a little upset. "Well...I'm really uncomfortable talking about it, but I guess I should tell you ponies sometime. Well, when I was younger, about five years ago...My parents were rather important people, but obviously someone thought they didn't deserve what they had, so...they tried to kill all three of us. I survived, though, to be put in the orphanage under psychiatric care. That's my story, really."

Vinyl couldn't absorb that, it was far beyond what ever happened in Equestria "Whoa...Sorry I...well, yeah, so...Why don't you head over to Sugarcube Corner and get some breakfast? Maybe you could stop off at the Library and talk to Twilight, It's right up the street. Oh, and come back this evening and I'll let ya listen to my latest creation. You'll be the first to hear it finished aside from Octavia and me!"

Marc nodded, "Yeah, I'd like that"

As he stepped out of the door, he turned and said, "Oh, and Vinyl? That music you were playing? It's very popular where I come from." She smiled and closed the door.

Marc wandered over to the large candy-house that undoubtedly was Sugarcube Corner. They only other thing nearby was a huge old tree; Certainly nothing like a Library, so he decided on a snack. The ponies inside all looked at him as he as he walked in.

A few left.

But most gave him a cheery hello. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around by the counter, pretty much tossing cupcakes at everypony in range.

"Hiya, Pinkie. Thanks for last...mmph!"

Marc found another cupcake shoved in his mouth. "Oh, hey Marc! You look sad, so have a cupcake!" Pinkie hopped around way faster than should have been possible. _Newton would have hated this place,_ Marc thought as he swallowed the sweet confection. Then coughed.

"Pinkie, not a good idea, you are actually going to hurt me doing that."

"Oh, sorry. Not feeling well? You look sad still, maybe I can help, here's a balloon!"

Marc tried to slap the buzzing piece of rubber out of his face as it whizzed into him. "No, no, Pinkie, i just want a bagel or something."

Pinkie's eyes widened as she gasped, "Ohhhh! Well, come with me! There's a whole room full of Scrump-a-licious treats right back here!" She dashed off.

Marc trailed her, trying to maintain his patience. When he crossed into the back room, he saw Pinkie Pie sitting amongst truly massive piles snacks and confections, looking at him with a curious angle to her head. "Are you okay? A cupcake, didn't help, neither did a balloon...Do I need to sing you a song, or throw you a party? No...? Well, I'm running out of ideas..."

Marc shook his head and smiled a little. "No, Pinkie, I just need some food." As Marc rummaged around for something that didn't look as if it was dredged through sugar before baking.

Pinkie jumped up and headbutted him away from the piles of cupcakes. "Now you just sit there, Marc, and tell me why you made Rainbow Dash so sad! Even my prank on Spike couldn't make her feel better! And now you're sad too, so if I can't throw you a party, I will listen til you smile, like Twilight says!"

"Um..." Marc had no idea what was going on, but he guessed this was Pinkie's way of showing concern for a friend.

Marc decided that, although Pinkie Pie was mostly insane, she was at least trying. He told her the same story he had told Vinyl that morning.

"I just got mixed up between what a place like Rosewood means in my world, and what it means here. You...well, the place I stayed in before was not very friendly. In fact, I hated it there. I just...Whatever, yeah, so I got the wrong impression, and now I need to make it up to Dash and Ditzy. Can you help? It'll make me smile."

Pinkie shot up and threw a violent salute, "Okey dokey! I'll go get Rainbow Dash! You go to Rosewood, Ditzy is there, so you talk to her first! See you later!" She disappeared in a puff of confetti.

Marc stood up straight and gathered his wits. Yup, Pinkie was right; So was Vinyl.

_Time to fix this._

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**Shucks, Marc, you were doing so well...**

**Please review and have a good day!**


	13. Chapter 13 Mending Bonds

**Well, no one seems to be complaining so far, so here is the chapter I really wanted to write. Enjoy.**

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Marc looked up at Rosewood Cottage on its rustic hill. He hadn't bothered to look at it at all the night before. The entrance faced the path that led, eventually, to Fluttershy's cottage at the farthest reach of what was considered Ponyville. Either side of the entrance were the two housing wings made up of a series of arched rooms with low wide eaves under a turf roof. The building was quite old, having been a rest stop for travelers in the early days of the town. Now, it was basically a free bed for any decent pony who just wanted to crash there. Now that Marc thought about it, it was an awesome idea, something that humans would never manage to get right just by the nature of it's generosity.

Marc, though, had a far more important thing to be looking for. A certain Pegasus, in fact.

Marc stepped up to the doorstep. The door was wide open, as would be usual. He gulped and called into the quiet building, "Ditzy? Are you here?"

He heard a scuffle in both wings as two sets of hooves trotted towards the door. An Orange pegasus with a purple mane and a grey unicorn with a straw coloured mane, both fillies, popped from both sides at once, just to stop dead at the side of the Human in the doorway. "Oh! Hello mister... We were playing hide and seek, but...She was in the kitchen a minute ago, maybe you should look there."

Marc nodded his thanks and walked randomly down the west wing. "Uh, mister? the kitchen is that way...?" said the pegasus.

Marc turned and smiled at her. "Oh, thank you. What are your names?'

"I'm Scootaloo, and this is Ditzy's sister, Dinky." The filly pointed a hoof first at herself, then at her friend, who waved a hoof, politely.

"Thank you for your help. I need to speak to Ditzy now." Marc waved good bye to the slightly smiling fillies, then headed to the end of the east wing.

When he got to the door way, he saw Ditzy standing over the oven, frying a selection of fish while watching on some roasting vegetables on the other pan.

For a second Marc wondered whether such an undeniably clumsy pony should be cooking over an open flame, but he pushed it to the back of his mind before nervously knocking on the doorpost.

Ditzy's eyes were still a little red from crying earlier. She snuffled a little as she made supper. She may have been a clumsy mare usually, but when it came to caring for her little sister and anyone else who ever stayed at Rosewood, no one could question her determination to succeed. As she was vengefully prodding the fish and vegetables around in their respective pots, she couldn't help thinking about Marc.

Why hadn't he liked Rosewood? He'd been upset the night before, for no reason, and when he had woken up, he had looked stricken and angry. He had shouted at Rainbow Dash about not wanting to be friends and wanting to leave Ditzy's precious home, before storming out without a word. _How could he?_

That was why she was all the more surprised to see him standing at the kitchen door.

"Hey, Ditzy..." He whispered.

She didn't reply. She couldn't. Words that normally formed slowly on her tongue anyway now seemed to choke her as tears began to build behind her eyes, which totally lost focus. She couldn't take any more mean things he had to say.

Marc looked at her, a tone of heartbreak slipping into his voice as he saw how much pain he'd caused, "Ditzy, I'm sorry for this morning...And I owe you an explanation..."

Marc went on to explain to Ditzy all he had told Vinyl and Pinkie, along with his own private realizations about his mistakes that day. Regret leaked out of every word he spoke, as he looked at some point just past Ditzy's shoulder, unable to look her in the eye for shame of what he'd done.

"Ditzy," He said in closing, the emotion of the day and his past beginning to break him, "I understand if you want me to leave now, but I had to apologize for being so terribly, terribly cruel to you, you didn't do anything to deserve it..." Seeing no reaction, Marc began to stand away from the door. "Well, I'll get going-"

He didn't get any further, as Ditzy dashed away from her oven and hit him square in the chest hard enough to knock him flat on the floor.

She punched him with a hoof as she lay on top of him, and said, "T-there...n-now we can s-say we are...even." She nuzzled his neck as she stood up and flew out the door...again.

Marc was more than a little confused at this show of aggression/affection, before realizing that the kitchen was now unattended, since he had once more upset the caretaker.

Well, he couldn't go wrong by finishing up dinner.

It didn't take to cook the fish (for Scootaloo and Ditzy he assumed) and the vegetables. There wasn't enough for him, but he wasn't hungry after the very emotional day, and he wouldn't have had time anyway; His stomach was still in a knot as he remembered that he now had to do it all again with Rainbow Dash.

As if summoned, he heard Pinkie Pie calling him from the main door. Marc dished up the three servings and left them on the counter. He turned off the stove and steeled himself for a very difficult apology to come.

He walked out and immediately saw Rainbow hovering unhappily above a bouncy Pinkie Pie. Marc was a little taken aback by how Pinkie had retrieved the recalcitrant pegasus: a piece of rope lead from Rainbow's waist to Pinkie's foreleg.

'Pinkie said I had to come for some reason. This better be really good." Mumbled Rainbow Dash, obviously peeved with the turn of events.

Marc ignored the impossibilities of Pinkie's methods (Rainbow should have easily been able to just carry Pinkie off) and got right down to what he had to say. Ditzy sat in her tree watched as Marc tried to explain to the irate mare why he had made such a an idiot of himself that morning. He explained the time he'd spent in the system of the state, without freedom, or friendship, and how difficult it had been to earn the right to freely see those left that cared for him, and the struggle it had been for him to keep those friends close despite the apathy of the organization that had controlled his life.

But when he tried to explain why he was in that system in the first place...his family's murder before his eyes... He stopped, and trailed off. He couldn't say it again, not in these circumstances, not with Rainbow just hovering there, no change to her expression.

Mac cleared his throat, and said in ending;"I hope that you can see through to forgive me my actions, it's all I can ask."

Rainbow was so confused. Yesterday, Marc had been so calm and sweet, befriending half the town in half an hour while she had watched in amazement from a cloud above the square. She had waited all night at Rosewood just to apologize for her bungle of an introduction, but he had flipped, turning her away as she tried to open up to him. Now here he was, doing exactly what she had tried to that very morning.

Asking forgiveness.

Everypony watched Rainbow hover undecidedly in the air. Marc was beginning suspect an unhappy ending to this evening. He looked down, accepting her rejection. He had hurt her. She had the right.

Suddenly Rainbow shot up into the sky, so sharply that it snapped the rope holding her to Pinkie, earning a squeak from the pink mare as she was flipped over.

Then she dropped to the ground, her nose inches from Marc's as she rested her hooves on his shoulders to look him straight in the eye. "Never, EVER, say anything like that again."

Pinkie cheered as Rainbow pulled Marc into a hug. Ditzy jumped around on her branch, beaming with joy.

Marc sighed with relief.

Then Pinkie barreled into them and began pushing them towards town, "Come on! Marc has to visit Vinyl!"

Marc ignored how she even knew that as he allowed himself to be pushed, but not before calling over his shoulder. "Ditzy? Come with! I finished dinner, the fillies can find it in the kitchen!"

She flew over without hesitation, bumping into him accidentally on landing. Marc smiled and patted her on the back, banishing her embarrassment.

When Pinkie knocked on Vinyl's door, the grey mare from the concert the night before, the cellist Octavia, greeted them and ushered them up to the sounding room.

Soon, they were all seated on puffy beanbags in front of Vinyl's personal sound booth. "Ya all set?" She asked by way of greeting.

Three ponies and a human all nodded in agreement.

Otcavia began pulling her cello from behind her, saying. "Marc, Pinkie came and told us about your predicament today, and Vinyl and I," She nodded to the smiling unicorn in her booth, "decided that considering the circumstances, this deserved a special song, so here you are..."

As the notes of Octavia's expert movements mixed with Vinyls' perfectly complementary playback, the room was filled with hauntingly beautiful music that filled company's hearts with a spirit of joy and contentment. Rainbow Dash sat up straight, her head gently moving in time with the song, a smile spreading across her face.

Marc looked over to her for a second, happy, before his attention was drawn to Ditzy, who snuggled up to his side and nuzzled her way into his embrace, resting her head on his chest, her expression radiating her relief and joy.

Marc held her as he listened to the two musicians as they swept away all his misgivings and his heart began to soar. He smiled.

Pinkie could be heard to squee into her hoof in the background as the friends let themselves be floated away on the mesmerizing music.


	14. Chapter 14 Hoof in the Works

That night was the one memory of all his experiences in Equestria that would never dim in his mind. Something about the emotional overload combined with the special effort of a few ponies he had only known for a few days had combined to forge every note of Vinyl and Octavia's song into his mind.

Which was why he woke up the next morning humming it. He was laying on a bed in the far east wing of of Rosewood Cottage, one of at least a dozen. After the tear jolting finale of the melody, they had all of them, the musicians included, ended up walking through the luminescent night, first to Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie had stopped off with a cheery farewell.

Then they had slowly strolled to just under Rainbow's cloud-house. Palace more like, but it was easy to renovate and expand, being cloud, she had explained with a hint of pride. Marc said goodbye and somehow found himself attempting what had ended up being called a 'wing five' with the mare, which resulted in some hilarity.

Then Marc and Ditzy walked Vinyl and Octavia back to their cottage. Vinyl had looked abashed after all the praise she'd received for her work, but Octavia had taken enough for both of them and some to spare. Marc had, to their surprise, hugged them both before thanking them again and beginning the leg back to Rosewood.

Not much had been said the entire night, and nothing at all once they reached the cottage. Ditzy stumbled over a bed, landing face first while looking for the light switch, which had been installed in a very awkward place in the wall. She gave up in her tiredness and let Marc guide her down the east hall to a bed. Marc had fallen on the bed next to her, and had immediately passed out.

With these memories running through his mind, Marc lay still for a moment, wondering how such serenity could have been born from such a stressful day. He was saved from his ruminations, however, by an excited call from the kitchen, "C'mon everypony! Muffins for breakfast!"

Marc then noticed the smoke pouring from the door a few metres from where he lay. He leapt up, worried, and scuttled over to the door. He joined a group of five ponies waiting there. As he tried to make sense of why these ponies he'd never seen before (aside from the fillies from yesterday) were there, the group was bombarded with a stream of flying muffins from the kitchen. Marc saw a bedraggled unicorn take a direct hit in the face and fall over, eating the obviously delicious treat.

When Marc got to look into the room, he wouldn't have been surprised to see Pinkie Pie standing there, but instead (thankfully) was a confused looking Ditzy sipping around and around, looking for something. "Ditzy, stop, you're gonna hurt yourself!" Marc jumped in and stopped her inches before she whacked her head on the counter, not for the first time by the looks of it. "Oh...Hey Marc...I was just making muffins, but...I cant find your one, i know it's here somewhere..."

Marc sighed and picked the muffin up off of Ditzy's back. "Here it is. Hey, you've lost your stutter!" He eclaimed.

"Oh, I-I h-have?" Ditzy said, looking self conscious.

Marc smiled at her. "Nope, there it is again."

She went a shade a smidge pinker than usual and giggled into her hoof. "Um...yeah, I st-stutter when I'm n-nervous."

Marc didn't comment further, but instead led the endearing pegasus out into the east wing where the others were busy eating their breakfast.

"You know, Ditzy, when I woke up and saw nearly the entire hall filled with smoke and new ponies, I couldn't help feeling a little concerned."

Ditzy sniffed at that. "Yeah, everypony worries about me. 'Oh, that Derpy, shes going to blow the whole place up one day!' Well, I wont, because I love this place, and everypony who stays here. These are some wayponies here for the night by the way. I...did burn the muffins, though." She looked up at Marc, who inspected his absolutely pristine meal. "Well, there's nothing wrong with mine, see?"

Ditzy, bit a hoof and said sidelong. "I meant the first batch...yeah, I put those in the fireplace over there."

Marc looked over at fireplace. He thought it had been loaded with charcoal. he ignored this with some difficulty and continued with breakfast.

Afterwards, the three travelers left for the town with a cheery thanks and some coins for Ditzy's trouble. (And medical bills)

"Yay! Bits!" Ditzy shouted. "Now we can go buy some muffins!"

Marc couldn't believe her. He was literally dragged out by the hem of his by now ragged shirt by the very excited pegasus. Marc walked along in the shade of the flittering Ditzy as she tumbled along towards the town. They met Fluttershy by the stream that ran along the path, trying to coax out a nervous bankvole with soft cooing noises. Ditzy called out, "Hi Flutteshy!"

The pale pegasus let out a subdued cry and shot up a tree, where she clung, trembling, before remembering she had wings. She released her hold and landed just in front of Marc. "Oh...hi."

thus insued a rather awkward silence, all parties waiting for the next to speak. eventually, Marc said to the embarrassed Fluttershy. "You know you can talk to me whenever you want, I'm always in town or at Rosewood, and I'd love to talk to you, you must have the most amazing stories about your animals. Come by Sugarcube corner later and have a muffin with us. That vole is out of her den, by the way: Ditzy scared her out. See you in a bit, Fluttershy!" Marc waved goodbye, chuckling at the quiet mare

Marc and Ditzy were chatting about the various types of treats available in their respective worlds as they walked past the large tree in the town. Suddenly, a door at it's base burst open and Twilight rushed up to them. "Marc! Good, come quickly, the Princess is here! She has something to tell us, hurry!" She spun around and re-entered the tree.

Marc followed without hesitation, Ditzy in his wake. In the middle of the room stood Princess Luna, surrounded by five ponies; Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, all looking grave and concerned. The Princess nodded as Marc entered, then continued, "My little ponies, there has been a complication with experiments in Canterlot, involving Princess Celestia," The ponies gasped. "She has been attempting to find the best way to help our guest," Nodding to Marc, "Return to his home. I warned her against taking Discord's offer of help. I regret to that I have been proved right."

More gasps of shock. Marc couldn't believe this was happening. Ditzy was trying to get his attention. "M-Marc...? What's h-happening?"

Twilight stepped forward into the confusion and pronounced, "Calm down everypony! Come on, Equestria and the Princess need us! We need to get the Elements of Harmony! to Canterlot!"

Marc shot an arm into the air and joined the rousing shout!

No one noticed Fluttershy open the door and poke her head inside.

"Um, hi...did I miss something...?"

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**Conflict inbound: Please review**


	15. Chapter 15 Event Horizon

**This story seems to have a life of it's own: I didn't plan anything like this... Oh well, I like it, hope you do too!**

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Luna had already arranged for a pegasus carriage , and at a call from the younger Princess it swooped down from above to land suddenly before the group. Fluttershy leapt up into Rainbow's surprised hooves, only to be unceremoniously dumped on the ground by the impatient mare. "C'mon Fluttershy! We don't have time for this!"

Rainbow Dash then went on to fly in circles as everypony climbed into the large carriage. Rarity looked questioningly at the four strange pony guards set to pull the large contraption.

"Excuse me, princess, but I've always wondered; are your guards even ponies? Their wings, I mean..."

Marc had also noticed the odd appearance of Luna's guard. Bat wings on a pony was quite a sight.

"My ponies of the night are my special guard. Unfortunately, when I became Nightmare Moon and changed form, those ponies in my service also became warped by my failure. In many ways it still haunts Equestria. Your predicament may, too, be partly the fault of yours truly." SHe said looking at Marc.

He was surprised at how easily Princess Luna spoke of what was undoubtedly the most traumatic experience of her entire life, despite having no idea what she actually meant. Having had a difficult time himself, he admired her strength, and found himself trusting her to know what to do._ Probably because she's a Princess and all, like a god here._ At least she didn't have that annoying habit her sister had of only telling half the story and letting you work the rest out for yourself.

Marc stepped up into the carriage and turned around to help Ditzy up. But she was standing by the Library door, shaking her and looking scared.

"Ditzy, do you want to rather stay here? That's okay, too." Marc said, but in truth, he a bit disappointed. For some reason, he really wanted Ditzy with him now. He had a bad feeling about how this was going to end.

"Oh. N-no! I just...R-Rosewood..." She stuttered, looking panicky. Rainbow snorted at Ditzy's confusion.

Suddenly Ditzy straightened, and said in a strained voice, "P-Princess, hold on f-for one m-minute." She galloped around the tree and disappeared.

Rarity looked concerned. "Well, no offense to dear Ditzy, but is it such a good idea for her to come along? This a mission for the Elements of Harmony, after all, and she does have...clumsy tendencies."

Rainbow landed on the edge of the carriage an shouted, "Yeah! Let's go before she crashes into something!"

As the carriage took off, Marc felt annoyed at the ponies' dismissal of the poor mare, but he had to agree: maybe it was safer for her to stay behind. That didn't help him when he looked back and saw her standing where they had been a minute ago, looking up their receding shadow with abandonment etched into her eyes. He choked back anything he may have said and straightened up, facing what was to come.

It took them about three hours to make the flight to the city of Canterlot. Much was discussed, but it was mostely shameles conjecture as the Princess remained silent, staring forward. All comments died when they got closer to the mountain city.

The entire castle was darker than it should have been in the sunlight, as if the light had been sucked from the air. It looked quite terrifying, and the guards posted on every battlement and the complete silence of the entire sky made it seem threatening as they flew in between the minarets that pierced the sky. as they landed, a pegasus guard flew over and reported, "Princess, sounds of struggle have been heard from the throne room! We have surrounded the keep with our strongest mages, but they need to know what they are facing...?" Marc realized that the Princess had not even warned the castle guard about the situation: This was serious.

"Tell them all to stay at their posts, but I fear they may not be of any use in this situation." Luna replied.

Then she walked over to another guard, a unicorn, who held a box by his side, suspended in an aura of magic. Twilight grabbed the box unceremoniously in her own magic, opened it and distributed it contents amongst her and her five friends, to the surprise of the Princess. The jewelry did not look particularly threatening for the most powerful weapons this world had ever known, but Marc kept his judgement to himself.

"Lets go, Princess!" Twilight growled out, looking ready to destroy anything in her path.

Luna nodded and led their group through a large entrance hall to a giant pair of doors set with gems and precious metals. Dull monotonous thuds could be heard on the other side, in the throne room. Marc hung back, unsure of why he was here to begin with. So far nopony had so much as glanced at him. The huge doors swung open to reveal a rather curious sight.

Discord was hammering with his sofa at a vast forcefield in the middle of the hall that surrounded the hazy figure of Princess Celestia. All the ponies except for Fluttershy immediately dashed forward in the wake of the furious Luna, who tackled Discord in mid swing. As he dropped the large piece of furniture it burst into a cloud of bubbles that flew into a ball and imploded. Discord jumped up and shouted, "Luna, you must stop doing that! And get your sister out of that field before she gets sucked through!"

All the ponies looked at the Draconequus suspiciously. He sighed exasperatedly and explained, "Now Luna, you know that your sister was trying to find out about that world I was so fond of visiting...I see you brought the human with you. Now, as you can see, she can't get back. She is, you might say, stuck between worlds! Brilliant! Ahem...I told her to practice a bit first, after all, she does't have half as much experience as you or I, now does she? Of course, she didn't listen. Now look at her!" He winked and flew up to the ceiling. "Come now! We simply must break her out of there!" He said in a sarcastic tone. He looked around hopefully.

Marc looked at this scene and knew something was wrong. No creature in this world was any good at lying. But nopony else had concerns. After all, Discord had been reformed. Soon, Twilight gathered the Elements and began a spell. All six of them began to glow and levitate as a bright rainbow of light gathered about them. Suddenly it launched through the air in a brilliant arch and crashed into the dome that covered the solar Princess. Something clicked in Marc's head when he saw that bright beam of power. Unfortunately he was now powerless to stop the disaster about to occur.

Just then an uneven fluttering could be heard, along with a cry of surprise as a certain grey pegasus tumbled through the doorway and bowled into the airborne Elements of Harmony mid-spell. The entire formation was knocked to the ground as the rainbow beam collapsed into itself before exploding outwards and blowing out the enormous stained glass windows along the entire length of the room.

The dome that contained Celestia suddenly grew to double its size, pressing up against the walls of the room and contouring to the columns. Its colour went from its previous hazy pink to a deep opaque purple before darkening into black.

Luna gasped in shock as Discord suppressed an impatient snort. Twilight turned and screamed at the grey-and-straw-coloured huddle against the wall, "Derpy! You just killed the Princess!"


	16. Chapter 16 Dawn of the Fall

Twilight was screaming in near panic at the crying pegasus by the time Marc yanked Twilight's tail and left her sitting in startled silence. Marc rounded on the confused Unicorn with a vengeance matched only by herself seconds before.

"Hey! Twilight, think! The one you should be shouting at is over there!" Marc pointed an accusatory finger at Discord, "He lied to you all, don't you see?! I worked it out!"

Marc walked purposefully over to Ditzy. She was beyond words in her state, too worked up to utter anything but strangled sobs. All eyes were on the tall human as he picked up the crying mare and walked over to Princess Luna. Discord groaned out into the air, "Oh, please! you must hurry! look, that field will only last a few more seconds! Blast it and get the Princess out before something dreadful happens!"

Fluttershy was cowering in a corner, covering her head with her hooves.  
Applejack stood undecidedly, mincing on the spot. "Twi? We gotta do somethin'!"  
Rarity feigned a feint into Pinkie Pie's hooves, who trembled slightly as she bore both their weights, looking around wildly.  
Rainbow Dash flew up to Discord and shouted, "What the hay just happened! Tell me!"

"SILENCE!" Everypony stood stock-still at Luna's Royal Voice. Marc had laid Ditzy under the protective hooves of the Princess, and explained during the confusion his thoughts.

Twilight looked close to tears as she looked to her remaining leader. Luna kept her peace, and looked at Marc expectantly.

Marc Whispered in Ditzy's ear. "Hey, now, you'll be okay. You did good, my friend. You saved a life." He wasn't sure whether this was true just yet, but if he was wrong, it wouldn't matter anyway. This room at least would cease to exist.

He walked up to the field, to the increasing agitation of the elemental hovering above him."What? No! The Princess will die! Do you know how much energy is in that field-!"

Luna hissed and Discord fell silent. Marc looked back at the group. Twilight had realization dawning in her expression. she cheered then, and incongruous sound amid the ruins and shattered glass. Her friends walked forward and looked at Marc, scared but hopeful, to stand in a line facing him. Marc turned back to the huge force field, and thought. _They believe in me; I cannot fail. Here goes nothing._

He stepped into the field. Amid the massive pulses of sound and sensation that hit his body harder than anything Vinyl could have played, he heard the daconequus Discord roar.

Half a minute later he came to on he floor inside a pitch black hole. Before him was a hazy whit light that glowed faintly to dispell the darkness. Marc wondered what had happened. He stood up in the supercharged atmosphere that made breathing a severe task and nearly swam through the mist of static in the giant bubble. He only saw the shape of the figure under the light when he was nearly close enough to touch her.

"Princess!" He coughed out. the air invaded his lungs and chocked him from the inside. He stopped everything when he felt a voice echoing in his head.

"_Marc? How did you get here_?" Marc fell down and sat there under the height of Celestia as she lit the area as she could. "Princess"

"_Think, Marc, to be heard._"

_Oh, great, they're telepathic. No one decides to tell me this...Why?! _Marc quickly covers this thought with another, realizing that the Princess had most likely heard that.

"_Princess, I am here to help you out._"

_"Ah, Marc, I could not have hoped for so much._" She sounded tired, even in thought.

_Princess, why can't you just bust your way out? Just close the field."_

_No, Marc, this is different. You see, Princess Luna and I are not elementals; We gained our power through the use of the Elements of Harmony, but our bodies are still that of ponies: When we travel worlds, Our bodies cannot follow. The field is normal, it protects my body in my absence. But...Something has interfered, instead trapping me. I am not as you see me. I cannot affect this world unless I am returned!_

Marc looked up at the stoic form of Princess Celestia above him. Immobile, completely still. Yes, absent.

_Marc, I cannot return! the energy required to return me to my body is being drained by the very air. More and more energy has been added, even after I had stopped trying._ Marc knew what was happening. The field was trapping pure energy inside it; with nowhere to dissipate to, the level of energy inside the dome had increased way past saturation to unstable levels. Enough to destroy the Princess's body if she could not return to it and break the hold it had on her being. They had precious little time; the air began crackling.

_"Princess, use me. You are talking to me, right? Now it can't be much of a step to send yourself through that connection. If you use my body as a link from my world to yours, you can travel through me!"_

_"Marc, this will be too much for you. Your mind may not survive the weight of my consciousness."_

Marc laughed, _"Princess, I have had some heavy thoughts: do it, you are needed still" _He stood again and grasped the Princess's neck in a hug. He new, what ever happened, this was the only way.

Then he felt a massive wave of memories and experiences rush before his eyes. He was witnessing everything that had made Princess Celestia who she was, from her earliest memories, to watching the birth of her sister, to finding the power that her and Luna to defeat the raging Discord and spread love and tolerance throughout Equestria. The centuries of memories began to force his own mind aside, shattering his sense of self and obliterating what made up who he was._ "Thank you, Marc."_  
Everything went Black.

Twilight watched in trepidation as the massive aura extended, pulsed and began tearing apart the columns of the throne room. Huge pieces of masonry tumbled from the high arched ceiling, crashing into the field and floor with a cacophony of sound as the leviathan dome of pure energy began to ripple and shudder. All of that energy, pent up into one point, was almost unmanageable in its brutality.

Then, it all collapsed inwards to form a single bright light, glowing bright like the sun at midday, before forming a bright impenetrable outline of the Princess in her radiant beauty, her wings flashing light across the room on every movement. In her embrace, Twilight thought she made out the smaller, still form of their unexpected saviour.

Celestia gathered all the power that had built up around her and released it as light. The pulse of light spread across the entire land, dazzling every eye in Equestria. Then, having safely dispersed all that power, she allowed herself to be pulled to the ground by gravity and her own exhaustion. She laid out the form of Marc on the burnt stone floor and stood in quiet vigil over the form that had just saved all her world.

Ditzy looked up from her position, and saw what she now realized she had feared from the second she had seen the carriage take off without her, the very result she had flown all the way by herself in the hope of avoiding. "N-No! Marc!" She flew over to his side crying out loud as she did. She slid into his side, warm, still alive, and wrapped herself around him.

In some hope of returning him, she hummed out the tune that had preceded all this horror. But Vinyl and Octavia's song had no effect.

All the ponies sat in silence as they stared in grief at the still living but consciousless body of Marc.


	17. Chapter 17 Healing Wounds

**I think things are gonna close up soon, but I still have some ideas I would like to use...This story is already twice the length I planned for, but oh well.**

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The days that followed were some of the worst moments Twilight had ever experienced. She had had many adventures with her friends, from releasing a princess to saving a whole empire, and they had come close to failing on many occasions, but they'd always pulled through, and everypony had ended up smiling in the end. A letter would be sent to Celestia, and that would be that.

Not now. Marc, a strange creature from another world, mysterious and often eclectic, had in the space of a month and a half come to mean very much to a lot of ponies. The shame of it all was that most only realized it now.

Rainbow Dash kept up the appearance of being strong, but everypony knew something was wrong when they noticed that she had actually cleared the skies on time every day for a week.

Fluttershy had cried in her cottage for days before emerging, even though in all honesty she'd never managed a sentence to the man.

Pinkie pie's hair had gone straight the minute she had seen the body. In fact, it had yet to resume its full spring. No one had been assaulted with cupcakes since that day.

Rarity had been tasked to make a special suit for Marc, with exact instructions from Princess Celestia herself, for a ceremony. A funeral was of course the natural assumption.

Applejack had remained strong, though she did not hide her grief at the first loss in the line of their service. A special tree had been planted in memory of the brave human.

Of course this was all a bit premature, Twilight knew, but she wouldn't give all her friends false hope: this plan would very likely fail.

She trotted around her library wondering where Spike was. They hadn't seen a lot of each other recently, with the whole Discord-bending -the -rules-of-dimensional-space-and-bring-a-human-to-Equestria thing, and she missed his help, especially now that she needed to find that book on memory spells.

She couldn't use that one she'd used the first times they'd defeated Discord, as that one was too weak to repair this kind of damage. "Ah! there you are, 'Memorandum of Memory Mysteries, part five: memory replacement'."

This was a drastic plan, but the Princesses felt sure it would work.

Princess Luna looked doubtfully at her sister. Celestia had been absent-minded of late, often staring into space, contemplative. Luna had just walked in on her staring at the new stained glass panels going into the repaired throne room walls. Unicorns made everything easier.

"Sister, we were meant to meet with Twilight at the holding room many minutes past. Come, we must go." Luna guided her sibling out of the room. Celestia blinked with surprise, then said, "Sister, I am simply amazed at how things are done in the human world...how much they know...They have made windows almost as bright as ours without using any rainbows!"'

Yes, sister, you have told me this many times, but t is time to get those memories back into the head they belong to. Twilight has found the tome on memories you inquired after."

"Oh, yes, of course." Celestia hurried on to the holding room.

Twilight waited nervously for the Princesses to arrive. They would have one chance at this. When Marc had allowed the consciousness of Celestia to past through him, they had merged, leaving Celestia with the memories of both and Marc with none. He had gone into another blackout, with his body maintaining life, but his mind technically dead. This could not be allowed. It could not end like that, this Man was a hero now, spoken of in respected circles in tones of curiosity and awe. Twilight new this was possible, but Marc would never be the same as he had been.

It just depended on how different he would be.

She saw the Celestia round a corner, talking about the wonders of a 'Universe", a vastness far beyond what Equestria had ever known. That was Marc speaking, and that needed to be fixed.

All three greeted with the barest formality before entering the holding room with Marc's body on its bed in the centre of the room, surrounded by monitoring equipment and two nurses. This was going to be a difficult and long process; restoring each memory to its proper place. The sequence was all important. Before they stared, Celestia, had something to say.

"This is the first time memories of one have come from another. If we succeed, it will be a great leap forward in memory magic, but we must remember, this is our friend and helper. He saved our lives; now we must return the favour.

All three bent their heads over the body of Marc as their horns began to glow.

Celestia was the centre of the spell, her mind contributing the memories, in the order she remembered them, to the control of Twilight's replacement charm. Luna kept any backscatter from any magic nearby from interfering, as well as lending her strength to her sister.

Celestia may have had the most powerful mind in all Equestria aside from the elementals, but this form of spell, making two personalities from a fused memory, was taxing her abilities. She focused on the images and emotions that had accompanied Marc through the turmoil of his life, basically reliving all those years with him, through the peaks and the tragic lows that had moulded him into who he was.

Slowly, the experiences were fed into his shattered conciousness, and everything he had ever learned, felt, tasted, seen, heard, or smelled was returned to him. In the end all three ponies were, despite their strength, shining with the sweat and effort of the huge task they had attempted.

Then Celestia gasped and dropped to her haunches, breathing huge gulps of air. "There...there, that is all...I know."

Twilight sat down and let her head droop. Then she tossed her mane out of the way to look at Luna. The younger Princess stood over Marc's form, and said, "For the gift you gave us, You deserve more than you have. The things you wished to learn but never could, the things you never saw but dreamed about. They will be yours in time." She lowered her horn over Marc's slowly rising and falling chest, and it began glowing.

Suddenly it flashed and Luna stepped back.

Marc moved. First he twitched, then slowly struggled into a sitting position, rubbing his eyes. He looked around in wonder for a moment before his eyes settled on the expectant faces of the three ponies before him.

He looked confused. "Hello...um, who are you?"

**Hmmm...I don't know what I think about this chapter. I'm gonna work on it I think. But I did just type this up, so it's posted. Pls review, and have a good one**


	18. Chapter 18 Voice for a Memeory

Ditzy hadn't really spoken since that day.  
Once she saw Marc lying there, unmoving, barely breathing, she had been unable to process words words beyond basic acknowledgments It wasn't as if she just didn't want to say anything: She literally felt as if could not speak.

They had had a hard time prying her away from the body. She had tried to hold on, but, hooves being hooves, Twilight had finally managed to get her away. The Princesses had sent Ditzy back to Ponyville on her own chariot with two guards to make sure she didn't do anything silly.

They had dropped her off at Vinyl Scratch and Ocavia's cottage early the next morning. After a hasty explanation to the two sleepy and then shocked mares, the guards and chariot had left in a hurry, with other duties to attend to. Vinyl had been who Ditzy had run off to see in the moments before Marc had left, and was the only pony who knew that any of them where even gone. Now, she and Ocatavia tried to comfort the inconsolable pegasus as she cried herself into a stupor on their doorstep. Many ponies had been attracted to the scene by the noise and the site of a chariot flying about so early. Soon a small crowd had gathered, questions being whispered back and forth before Vinyl managed to pull Ditzy into their living room. She left Octavia to lay Ditzy on a beanbag while she took it upon herself to explain to the town what had occurred.

It was now weeks later, and the Elements of Harmony had returned, all save Twilight, with fuller accounts of the violent and terrible accident. The flash of light had left the entire land full of anxiety, and the story of the bravery of that strange being that had only been introduced a few days before spread like wildfire amongst the ponies. He may have been received poorly by some, but he would now always be remembered well. And of course, he would be remembered best by a certain grey pegasus.

Ponies were worried about Ditzy's sanity, so much so that she had not been allowed to return to Rosewood. Instead, Vinyl had asked Lyra to make sure that everything went smoothly there. Vinyl and Ocatavia had a concert that week, and most of the musical ponies were formed into a band for the show. Lyra remained mostly because Bon Bon couldn't be expected to look after Rosewood and Ditzy at the same time.

Ditzy spent most days trying to come to grips with what had happened. In some way, hearing that Marc had not actually died yet was an incredible burden on her: She wished she could believe that Marc would come back to her, but after what she had seen other ponies doing by way of remembering him, she felt that hoping for something to happen was pointless. Then again, she couldn't live with that either.

Something else strange had happened. the day after the Elements had returned. Vinyl had led Ditzy to the town hall. There she had been put on the stage with Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy.  
They, and the entire town, had thanked her for saving Equestria.

No one had called her Derpy in a while. All ponies were quiet when they saw her, but it wasn't the usual ponies just ignoring her. They watched her as she passed them, unable to contain their curiosity and concern. She accepted this; After all, she couldn't say anything to dissuade them. Life felt heavy, but she was getting better. Just last night she had managed to ask Bon Bon for another bowl of soup. It was the most she had spoken since Canterlot.

She was sitting by the table in Lyra and Bon Bon's house, looking out the window, when a knock sounded on the door. Bon Bon dropped the mug of coffee she held with a sigh and walked over to open it. It didn't take long for her to return, stony faced, with a royal guard mare in her wake. Mares usually carried dispatches and delivered news in the name of the Princesses. There was only one thing this could be about.

"Miss Ditzy Doo?" The mare asked formally.

Ditzy nodded in response, waiting for the inevitable.

"Miss, I have been sent to inform you of the partial recovery of Marc Warner-"

It took all of Bon Bon and the guard's strength to stop Ditzy barreling through the room to the door. She said nothing, but pain was etched into her pale face as she fought against their restraining holds.

"Miss!" The guard mare shouted. "I am also to inform you that he has been deemed fit to return to Ponyville. He will arrive today at noon!"

Ditzy dropped flat at that._ What? He's coming back? So soon?_ There was a part of her that rebelled against the news, having already convinced herself that Marc could never return. Now he was coming back. She suddenly shook off the hooves of the two mares and took off through the door with uncharacteristic control. That didn't stop her from immediately crashing head first into Rainbow Dash hovering outside the door.

"Ditzy! Ditzy! Calm down! I know this is big, but there's nothing you can do, yet! Twilight has just come back with the carriage that brought the news, now come with me and we'll talk to her, okay? She knows how Marc is." Ditzy shook her head to dislodge tho stars behind her eyes, then looked at Dash, shaking._ It's true. He's coming back._

Rainbow's eyes softened. She pulled Ditzy into a hug and whispered "Hey, I know how you feel. He means a lot to me too. Come with me and lets see what news there is of our friend, okay?"

Ditzy regained control of her breathing, and forced herself to answer. "O-Okay...T-Thank you...Rainb-bow D-Dash."

The two dropped to the ground and began walking towards the Library, with Bon Bon and the guard mare following close behind.

There was already a crowd gathering around the front door, tying to see whoever had gone inside. Dash bulled them out of the way in her hurry to get to the door. She had not taken Marc's loss well. No one had seen her crying in the clouds whenever she was alone. She had tried to lose herself in busting clouds, imagining each one to be the hideous form of Discord. She wished that the Princesses had followed her advice, no matter how loud it had been, to put Discord back in stone. She shouldered open the door and let only Ditzy in behind her. The poor grey pegasus was not taking it well so far, tear channels already formed in her cheek fur. Once the door was securely closed, She turned to face the full room. Luna stood surrounded by the Elements of Harmony. Ditzy sat in a corner where she felt safe from too much news at once. Luna spoke calmly to the assembled group. 'My little ponies, Marc is alive and well, but I fear his memories are not as they once were."

"It is better than we feared, though. His memories have begun to assert themselves, but there is much he still does not recall. We, in consultation with Twilight, decided to return the memories of his past slowly, so as not to overload his mind: The magical effects on humans are still uncertain, but he is recalling a few names and faces. There is much to hope for, but still things to fear. We are going to install him in his original cottage until he is stable. But you may visit him this afternoon. Act with discretion, and do not expect too much. As for Discord: He has been banished to the frozen north under guard until he apologizes and offers to make amends. It is not enough, I know, but it must suffice. I must bid you farewell for now, as I must spread these tidings to other parts. Go well." And with that, she left.

In the silence that followed the Princesses departure, each pony was alone in thought. Then Applejack leapt into the air, shouting for joy, "Yaahoo! Marc's Okay!"  
Pinkie joined in without a moments hesitation, blowing a party whistle and bouncing around the room. Rarity sighed gustily and swooped a hoof to her forehead in relief while Fluttershy buzzed her wings and grinned.

Rainbow smiled and was going to join in before she saw Twilight walking slowly up to her room in silent thought.  
Ditzy stared at the ground and tried to wrap her mind around this unimaginably vast news. Eventually she smiled and walked up to the uncertain Rainbow Dash. "R-Rainbow? Would you l-like to start walking n-now?"

Rainbow tore her eyes from Twilight's door and beamed at Ditzy. "You're talking again! Yeah, let's go, the others will spread the news and join us later."  
_

It was only a few hours before Rainbow Dash spotted the carriage coming in to land behind the hill that hid Marc's cottage. She wanted to immediately follow, but Twilight had told her to wait until she had explained to Marc what was going to happen. Then, Rainbow Dash was to meet Marc first, and then slowly each of the others who knew Marc would be introduced, until all the ponies who had been invited were gathered at the cottage. This was thought to be the best way to remind Marc of his friends. Rainbow watched until she saw a flash in the sky before fluttering over the hill into view of the cottage.

Marc was very mildly aware of having seen all of this before. But it felt like another life, as if dozens of years had passed between then and now, not a month as Twilight had said.

He felt fragile, in mind and body. His lungs ached with every breath from the treatment they had received within the energy field. His mind often flashed with memories that had once been his. But there were also those that he knew were not his, fragments of Celestia's mind that had remained with him. That might explain why he felt older than he should. Twilight caught his attention with a hoof of his shoulder, and pointed him towards the hovering form of a pegasus in the air before him. He stared, uncomprehending for a second before recognition flashed with a smile across his face. "Rainbow Dash."

She immediately flew into him, grasping him in a bear hug. "It's good to see you again, Marc!"

It was about half an hour of idle conversation, centering on a certain fish, before Marc heard the shouting from the other side of the hill, followed by the sounds of many hooves. Seven other ponies had been invited to see him today, Twilight had said. It sounded as if they where all coming together. Marc was nervous, excited to put names to faces in his mind.

They all crested the hill at once, six running running on the ground in chase of one flying impatiently through the air. Marc immediately felt uneasy. There was something that wasn't clicking in his head. They all arrived in a cloud of dust.

He waved the dust away and regarded the ponies in front of him. It was difficult to focus on so many. There were two white unicorns, one overly styled and another wearing glasses. Then there were three earth ponies, a grey one with a dark mane, and solid pink one bouncing on the spot, and an orange one with a hat. The one pegasus was a pale yellow with a long pink mane. The other one...

Marc struggled to place her amidst feelings ranging from guilt to joy to despair to hope. He looked around again in mild confusion as the names drifted back to him. Slowly.

"This was too sudden, he needed to be introduced gently! Now you'll all have to go away, we can try again tomorrow." Twilight began hustling all the ponies away despite their massed protestations. The grey pegasus looked at Marc for a second, longing clear in her eyes, before flying off and landing in a tree just in view. Waiting.

Rainbow Dash stayed with Marc so he'd have a familiar face. Marc looked over at her. "Dash...I don't know if this is a good idea..."

Rainbow Dash looked at him worriedly, "What do you mean, meeting the others? We'll try again tomorrow and you'll get them all right, just give it time."

Marc shook his head, "No...Even my own people thought I was crazy before all this. Now...I'm even worse."

Rainbow thought for a second, then jumped into the air and proclaimed ,"You know what? From what I've heard, your 'people' were really mean and hurtful, so if they thought you were crazy then you must be really nice, right?"

Marc laughed at her logic, but didn't get a chance to answer before she landed and continued. "You made friends here. Now, they don't mind waiting for you, because you matter to them. All you can do is be yourself, that's who they care about. Well, that's How I see it, anyway..." She settled down and looked away abashed.

Marc thought for a second. Then he sat bolt upright, a song playing through his mind. Memories seated themselves as he looked at the mare int the distant tree.

"...Ditzy..."

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**I'm going to finish this up now, I think. I'll see about a beta reader next time, maybe that will help progression. Review and have a good day!**


	19. Chapter 19 Glory Days

**This story has been a blast to write! despite all the revisions and changes, I think it still came out very well indeed. I hope you enjoyed reading it. signing off, Quicksear.**

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Marc was not the same as he was before, to be sure, but he had a new found clarity about what now had to be done. That evening, he had reviewed in his mind what Princess Luna had told him; The gift that had been bestowed upon him. A choice, and a chance, to fix everything that had happened. To leave everyone - everyONE - happy. It was time to put it to use. but first, he had something important to see to.

Ditzy had a warm fuzzy feeling all over for days. The day after Marc had been returned to Ponyville, she had been the second pony to see him. (Only because Twilight was worried that Ditzy would get impatient again, apparently.) But that didn't matter now. Marc had remembered her! They had spent all day meeting the other ponies Marc had befriended: Pinkie Pie had appeared out of nowhere carting her party cannon, loaded with cupcakes. Fluttershy had brought Marc a bunny for companionship, Applejack a barrel of her family's famous Cider (The hard kind, by the way). And Rarity had brought the magnificent suit she had so carefully crafted for him. Vinyl and Octavia had come around early in the day, too, and offered to play a song. Marc had refused mildly, saying he would need to keep the offer for another occasion.

And all the while, Ditzy had been able to sit against Marc's side and watch at the antics of the other ponies, laugh at their jokes and stare in awe as Rainbow Dash put on a show to rival the Wonderbolts themselves. She hadn't felt for one moment as if she didn't belong, or was a nuisance. Rainbow Dash even started calling her Ditzy, and asked if she would like to join her among the clouds. Ditzy had been so proud at that: the best flyer in Ponyvillle asking HER, the clumsy mare who hadn't made it through two weeks in flight school, if she wanted to fly together. But she had declined, not wanting for a second to leave the side of the Man who had made it all possible. And Marc had felt the same way.

After a couple days, Marc had returned to town, much to the praise the townponies. Vinyl had even gotten together a few musicians and led a small welcome march, which had ended in hilarity when Lyra had fallen over Carrot Top's tail while trying to keep her attention off Bon Bon's teasing her with a smoothie. Marc had been reserved and quiet, thinking about something or other. Something seemed to be weighing heavily on him, but that was to be expected, given what he been through.

Ditzy had returned to Rosewood, her home, but Marc had had to stay with Twilight so that she could monitor his recuperation. Every now and again, he would still had blank moments, but he was coming along better than had been expected.

Vinyl was having a good day, too. Her music had been gaining popularity lately after her radio show had taken off, and Octavia had had just been offered a new recording deal that involved a lot of high end living...for two. Marc's return march had not been her highest moment, but given the time and resources available, it had gone over rather well. She was wondering whether or not to start a new project when she heard a knock on her door. She sighed and slowly levered her way out of a beanbag to stagger over and answer (She and Octavia may have celebrated the new deal a bit overmuch).  
She rubbed her eyes and opened the door. To her surprise, her visitor was the one and only biped hero himself.  
"Hiya, Vinyl. I'd just like to know if that offer for a song was still open..." Marc asked awkwardly. Vinyl's eyes widened as he explained what he intended to do.

Rainbow was proud that Marc had finally recovered. Now things could get back to normal. She had gotten back into her old rhythm of being late for work and early for play. As she lay on a cloud she wondered what she was going to do today. Maybe find Pinkie Pie and pull some pranks? But the mayor still had her eye on them after that indecent in the archives. Spike shouldn't have been allowed near all those scrolls alone anyway. So maybe she'd visit Applejack, that mare was always good for a laugh when she got annoyed. Just then her planning was interrupted by a call from the ground. Marc.  
She dropped down to the ground with a cheerful greeting. But as Marc explained his thoughts, she became quiet.

Twilight was more than a little nervous. Marc had told her everything that he intended, but nothing he said, not that he had the blessing of the Princesses, could quell her anxiety. She trotted around her Library, talking to herself, telling herself that it was all going to be all right: And in her heart, she knew it. Marc was right. He had had another life before this one that could not simply be ignored.

Rainbow Dash had ended up going to Sweet Apple Acres after all, but not for the fun of it. Applejack and big Mac were now several miles out of town, pulling the heavy carts of equipment Marc had asked them to haul to where Rainbow Dash led them. Applejack could not help be amazed at this turn of events._ Luna did what now?_

Pinkie Pie had a lot to do in little time. Nopony had told her about the thing at the place, with the stuff, and all that, but she knew what she was in charge of. She hurried to her preparations, knowing the importance of what was going to happen.

Ditzy was basking on the roof of Rosewood, rolling in the grass and smiling. What a good day she was having. Marc had said that he would be busy this morning, but it was already starting towards evening, so maybe she could go visit him again. With her mind made up, she was about to take off, only to be stopped by a tired-looking Rainbow Dash. "Hey Ditzy...You gotta follow me, quick, it's almost too late! Everypony's waiting!"

Ditzy took off immediately and followed as Rainbow took off into the evening sky._ What is going on? Is anypony hurt? Is Marc okay?_

It was nearly an hour before Rainbow finally landed at the base of a hill, quite far from Ponyville. It was even worse for the long circuitous route Rainbow had flown. Now that they had landed, Rainbow nudged Ditzy up the slope towards the summit, a ridge with the outlines of ponies, her friends, and to her astonishment, both Princesses, all looking down at her. But her eyes were locked on only one of the figures. The undeniably human outline of Marc standing in front of them all.

She stopped just below the ridge, looking up. Marc was wearing a magnificent suit that cut his figure handsomely. He jumped down to her and gave her a hug. "Hello, Ditzy," he said with a note of emotion in his voice.

"M-Marc...What is g-going on?"

Marc did not reply. Instead, Luna spoke over the group of ponies, all their eyes turned to her as she explained. "We are gathered here today on the request of our one and only human, Marc. We all agree that he has done very well for himself in Equestria. In fact, many of us owe him our lives. But he is not here of his own volition. No, he was pulled here as a cruel joke by a despicable spirit. We, from the very beginning, accepted that one day a decision would have to be made as to whether he could or would be returned to his home world."

Here, she paused and reviewed the assembled ponies, some looking worried, others accepting. She looked at her sister before continuing. "I personally know what it is like to be pulled away from all you know and love, and be turned upon an alien landscape. I of course deserved it, and can only wonder at the pain of being put through it for no cause. Which is why I gave Marc a choice."

She looked down at Marc, who stood solemnly over the terror-struck Ditzy. "No," She whispered, "No, no...N-No...". Marc hugged her around the shoulders and whispered, "Don't cry, listen."

Luna continued. "I promised Marc that the choice would remain his and his alone. Yesterday, my sister received a letter containing Marc's decision. Of course, he would not allow the choice to be so simple."

Here Celestia took over from her younger sister, "Marc laid out a request that I could not object to. We are all here to see it come to fruition. Marc, if you please."

Marc turned and looked Ditzy straight in the eye. Then he smiled. 'Ditzy, you beautiful mare, how could you ever doubt me?"

The group of ponies all began to grin and let out a communal "Awwww!"

Marc pulled the confused Ditzy up onto the ridge that Rainbow Dash had shown him back in what felt like the distant past. Celestia's horn glowed gently as she guided the sun in its path to its resting place, lighting the sky in glorious colours as Marc nodded over to a teary Vinyl in her impromptu booth. Octavia readied herself and her instrument, waiting for the perfect moment.

Marc whispered to Ditzy as the entire forest was lit in shades of gold and orange, the colours mixing with the slowly turning autumn leaves to bathe the vista in colours of liquid fire.  
"I could never leave now. You are all my world, now, And you...You are my home." Marc sat and hugged Ditzy as he held up a wrapped scroll into the burning sky. "And this here is me saying goodbye to what I once was."

Luna smiled as she focused on the magic she about to perform.

Everypony on on the ridge stared in awe as the sun and moon rose and fell in perfect sync, lighting the sky in contrasting shades that dazzled the eye. At that moment, chords of beautiful music began to fill the air. Vinyl and Octavia played the piece of music that meant the world to the two sitting in each other's embrace, surrounded by their friends, aware of everything and nothing, staring at the glorious tableau as their senses were suffused with beauty in every way. Majesty lit the landscape, happiness filled their hearts and hope brought life to it all, reverberating through their very souls. Ditzy nuzzled her way into Marc's arms, glowing with relief and joy, reveling in the shared sense ecstasy. And at that moment of bliss, Marc watched the scroll he had so carefully prepared vanish in a puff of flame, and with it, all his worries.


	20. Epilogue: Those left behind

Gale finished her audition at the club. It had been Over two months since Marc's mysterious disappearance without so much as a clue as to what had happened.

She had worried herself sick for a few days, then gone into denial over that fact that Marc obviously was not just missing. His logical fate had taken her this long to get used to. She sighed and made her way to the parking lot in the dark, alone. Marc had been a good friend. He would have been there with her when she tried something this big.

it had been him that had convinced her to try out for a singing role somewhere. She had always said no, she wasn't good enough, but he had disagreed. Now, in his absence, she had honoured his memory by fulfilling his dream for her. And she wad succeeded. She had the Tuesday evening spot, three times a month, and every Saturday. If only he could've seen it.

She fumbled with her keys for a while before shoving the right one into the door. she collapsed into the seat and waited a moment. then she noticed something on the passenger seat.

It was a rolled up piece of think paper held together with a blue ribbon. She sat in confusion for a second before picking it up and reading the name on the side.

It was hers, written in a slightly square hand writing she recognized instantly.

Ripping off the ribbon, she quickly unrolled the letter, and scanned the contents. What she read left her in a state of emotional turmoil.

Marc was okay. He missed her, and all their friends, but he was happy where he was. And he wasn't coming back.

The last lines read:

_I'm sorry for the pain all this had caused to you and everyone I knew, and I hope you forgive me one day._  
_This letter will not be with you in the morning, it will return to where it came from._  
_Now, turn on the radio._

Confused, she did as the letter instructed. And, to her amazement, a song began to play: Chasing Cars, by Snow Patrol. It was the song she and Marc had listened to on the first night they'd spent together outside the hospital. And it was the song She had just sung in memory of him.

She threw down the letter and raced home home before emotion overwhelmed her. She walked through the front door, the letter clutched in her hands. she stopped at the hall desk, and read the letter again carefully.

Then she turned it over and wrote of the back:

You're forgiven. Have a happy life, my dear friend.

She pulled out her iPod and put Chasing Cars on repeat. She watched through the night until the letter suddenly smouldered into nothingness, bearing her heartfelt message to her old companion, god knows where


End file.
